Abstract

In space division multiplexing (SDM) the spatial modes of a multimode optical fiber are used as individual data channels. SDM gives another degree of freedom over wavelength for increasing data transmission rates. As a result, SDM is a potential solution for more than 400Gbit/s requirements in data centers where scaling data transmission rates with parallel single mode optical fibers is currently ubiquitous. However, due to mode coupling, i.e., spatial modes exchange of power, SDM may require multiple inputs multiple output digital signal processing (MIMO-DSP) to mitigate resulting mode crosstalk, the cost and complexity of which may be prohibited in data centers. Elliptical core few mode fiber (EC-FMF) obviate the need of MIMO-DSP by reducing mode coupling below the tolerance level of a communication link. In this paper the spatial modes of a 100m elliptical core few mode fiber (EC-FMF) are analyzed by using liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulators (LCoS-SLMs) to measure the fibers mode crosstalk matrix in Hermite-Gaussian and Ince-Gaussian spatial mode bases. It is shown that the fibers natural spatial modes can be described by Ince-Gaussian modes due to their elliptical structure and can propagate 100m over the optical fiber with less than -20dB (1%) average mode crosstalk. The use of EC-FMFs for spatial division multiplexing in data centers is discussed.

Degree Date

Summer 8-8-2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.E.E.

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Advisor

Dr. Duncan MacFarlane

Format

.pdf

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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