Group Delay Measurements of Multicore Fibers with Correlation Optical Time Domain Reflectometry

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of Correlation Optical Time Domain Reflectometry to measure group delay and polarization mode dispersion in multi-core fibers, revealing core position and temperature effects.

Contribution

It introduces a method for characterizing multicore fibers' propagation delays and PMD using C-OTDR, highlighting core position and temperature dependencies.

Findings

Propagation delay varies with core position

Differential delay depends on temperature

C-OTDR effectively characterizes multicore fibers

Abstract

Several multi-core fibers (MCF) were characterized using Correlation Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (C-OTDR) in terms of propagation delay and polarization mode dispersion (PMD). The results show that the propagation delay in the cores depends on the position of the core in the fiber and that the differential delay between the cores varies with temperature.