High Spatial Density 6-Mode 7-Core Fiber Amplifier for L-Band Operation
Yongmin Jung, Masaki Wada, Kohki Shibahara, Saurabh Jain, Ian Davidson, P. Barua, J. R. Hayes, Taiji Sakamoto, Takayuki Mizuno, Yutaka Miyamoto, Y. Sasaki, Kunimasa Saitoh, Kazuhide Nakajima, David J. Richardson
Abstract
We present a high spatial density space division multiplexed fiber amplifier (i.e., 6-mode 7-core multicore fiber amplifier) supporting 42 spatial channels. A high average modal gain of 23.1 dB is obtained in the L-band with an average differential modal gain of 3.2 dB and a minimum output power of 17.5 dBm per core per mode. The total power consumption of the amplifier is improved by a power reduction factor of 0.36 and a fully fiberized optical amplifier is realized in a cladding-pumped configuration. The assembled amplifier is then tested in a few-mode multicore fiber transmission link and simultaneously amplified 42 spatial channel fiber transmission is demonstrated with the highest spatial density and energy efficiency to date.