Optical data transmission field trial @ 44Tb/s with a 49GHz Kerr soliton crystal microcomb

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a record high data transmission rate of 44.2 Tb/s over standard optical fiber using a novel Kerr soliton crystal microcomb, showcasing its potential for ultra-high capacity optical communications.

Contribution

The work introduces the use of a new class of micro-comb, soliton crystals, for high spectral efficiency and stability in optical data transmission at record rates.

Findings

Achieved 44.2 Tb/s data rate over 75 km fiber in lab and field.

Used soliton crystal micro-comb with 48.9 GHz spacing for high spectral efficiency.

Demonstrated error-free transmission with advanced modulation formats.

Abstract

We report world record high data transmission over standard optical fiber from a single optical source. We achieve a line rate of 44.2 Terabits per second (Tb/s) employing only the C-band at 1550nm, resulting in a spectral efficiency of 10.4 bits/s/Hz. We use a new and powerful class of micro-comb called soliton crystals that exhibit robust operation and stable generation as well as a high intrinsic efficiency that, together with an extremely low spacing of 48.9 GHz enables a very high coherent data modulation format of 64 QAM. We achieve error free transmission across 75 km of standard optical fiber in the lab and over a field trial with a metropolitan optical fiber network. This work demonstrates the ability of optical micro-combs to exceed other approaches in performance for the most demanding practical optical communications applications.