Empowering high-dimensional optical fiber communications with integrated photonic processors

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a fully integrated photonic processor for high-dimensional optical fiber communication, enabling efficient mode multiplexing and all-optical descrambling, which simplifies system design and enhances performance.

Contribution

It introduces a reconfigurable integrated photonic system that performs multichannel mode multiplexing and all-optical descrambling, replacing bulk optics and electronic processing.

Findings

Successful experimental demonstration with six modes.

High efficiency and quality eye diagrams achieved.

Robust performance despite mode scrambling and polarization rotation.

Abstract

Mode division multiplexing (MDM) in optical fibers enables multichannel capabilities for various applications, including data transmission, quantum networks, imaging, and sensing. However, MDM optical fiber systems, usually necessities bulk-optics approaches for launching different orthogonal fiber modes into the multimode optical fiber, and multiple-input multiple-output digital electronic signal processing at the receiver side to undo the arbitrary mode scrambling in a circular-core optical fiber. Here we show that a high-dimensional optical fiber communication system can be entirely implemented by a reconfigurable integrated photonic processor, featuring kernels of multichannel mode multiplexing transmitter and all-optical descrambling receiver. High-speed and inter-chip communications involving six spatial- and polarization modes have been experimentally demonstrated with high efficiency and high-quality eye diagrams, despite the presence of random mode scrambling and polarization rotation in a circular-core few-mode fiber. The proposed photonic integration approach holds promising prospects for future space-division multiplexing applications.