Square-core single-mode-fiber (SC-SMF) with high bending tolerance for data center networks

Abstract

Square-core optical fiber has been proposed recently for high optical power delivery in industrial processing tools with core size larger than 400 x 400 mu m(2). In this work, we first study the possibility of significantly reducing the core side to single-mode condition (i.e. 9 x 9 mu m(2)) at optical communication wavelength. In the proposed square-core single-mode-fiber (SC-SMF), high bandwidth-distance product and low bending loss are achieved. We also discuss the fabrication of the SC-SMF. After this, the bending losses of the SC-SMF and standard single mode fiber (SSMF) are analyzed and compared. Finally, 10 Gb/s signal transmission using conventional on-off keying (OOK) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) passing through 200 m, 500 m and 1 km SC-SMFs are performed. Negligible power penalty is observed. We believe that this can be another choice of high bending tolerance fiber which is simple to manufacture. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.