title: 10 Spatial mode transmission using low differential mode delay 6-LP fiber using all-fiber photonic lanterns.
abstract: To unlock the cost benefits of space division multiplexing transmission systems, higher spatial multiplicity is required. Here, we investigate a potential route to increasing the number of spatial mode channels within a single core few-mode fiber. Key for longer transmission distances and low computational complexity is the fabrication of fibers with low differential mode group delays. As such in this work, we combine wavelength and mode-division multiplexed transmission over a 4.45 km low-DMGD 6-LP-mode fiber by employing low-loss all-fiber 10-port photonic lanterns to couple light in and out of the fiber. Hence, a minimum DMGD of 0.2 ns (maximum 0.357 ns) is measured after 4.45 km. Instrumental to the multi-mode transmission system is the employed time-domain-SDM receiver, allowing 10 spatial mode channels (over both polarizations) to be captured using only 3 coherent receivers and real-time oscilloscopes in comparison with 10 for conventional methods. The spatial channels were unraveled using 20 × 20 multiple-input multiple-output digital signal processing. By employing a novel round-robin encoding technique, stable performance over a long measurement period demonstrates the feasibility of 10x increase in single-core multi-mode transmission.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Weerdenburg
authors.forename: Amado
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Velàzquez-Benitez
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van Uden
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sillard
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Molin
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amezcua-Correa
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Antonio-Lopez
authors.forename: Maxim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuschnerov
authors.forename: Frans
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Huijskens
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: de Waardt
authors.forename: Ton
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koonen
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amezcua-Correa
authors.forename: Chigo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Okonkwo