Ecoc 2015 - ID: 0501

Few-Mode Fibers with Improved Mode Spacing

*

Alexander R. May and Michalis N. Zervas

Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
*
arm103@orc.soton.ac.uk
Abstract A simple and intuitive optimization approach is described for the design of composite
rotationally asymmetric refractive index fiber profiles with substantially improved mode spacing.
Introduction
1
Space division multiplexing (SDM) has been
heralded as a potential solution to the
forthcoming optical communication capacity
crunch. SDM constitutes a drastic design
departure from the currently used standard
single-mode fibers (SMF). It relies on multicore
or multimode fibers in order to increase the
transmission degrees of freedom. Multimodedivision multiplexing (MDM), in particular, relies
on specially designed multimode fibres (MMFs)
and uses propagating optical modes as
separate communication channels. High
capacity MDM has been implemented by using
MMFs supporting highly-coupled, low differential
mode delay (DMD) and extensive, energy2
hungry digital signal processing (DSP) .
Alternatively, high performance MDM systems
have also been demonstrated using MMFs with
virtually uncoupled, high differential mode delay
(DMD)
modes,
with
minimum
DSP
3,4
requirements .
The major consideration in designing uncoupled MDM (UC-DMD) systems is the degree
of modal cross-coupling. It is known that crosscoupling is inversely-proportional to the effective
5
index difference and it is, therefore, more
severe between adjacent modes. So far, UCDMD is based primarily on optimized step-index
fibers. Step-index designs offer simplicity in
terms of their design and fabrication and
2,3
previous authors have investigated their use in
up to six-LP-mode fibers. Also, it is important for
improved designs to have large mode effective
areas and differential group delays (DGD)
(>0.5ps/m) to limit inter-mode non-linearity as
well as meeting the optimum trade-off between
micro- and macro-bend losses.
It has been shown that step-index fibers,
despite the parameter optimization, still support
modes with non-equally spaced effective
indices. Due to cylindrical symmetry, this is
particularly severe between LP21 and LP02
modes. As a result, strong mode cross-coupling
has been measured in relatively short MMF
6
lengths using the S2 method .
In this paper we investigate an alternative
MMF refractive index (RI) design showing

substantially equalized mode effective indices,

compared with state-of-the-art step-index fibers.
Mode index equalization improvements are
achieved by introducing optimum 1) rotationallysymmetric RI perturbations inside the core,

Fig. 1: Refractive index distribution schematics of (a)

standard SI fiber and (b) an optimally perturbed
proposed design

affecting primarily one sub-group of modes, and

2) rotationally-non-symmetric RI perturbations in
the cladding, affecting primarily the rest of the
supported modes. The design optimization
strategy is based on simple, physically-intuitive
arguments.
Design strategy for fibers with optimally
distributed mode spacing
Given that what we try to achieve is the effective
index manipulation, where targeted RI
perturbations (n) could be introduced in a
known starting profile (e.g. standard stepindex) in order to selectively affect the
propagation constant of individual modes (), an
excellent, intuitive guiding principle is the
7
following well known perturbation formula

Ecoc 2015 - ID: 0501

e dA

(1)

dA

where k is the free-space wavenumber, the

mode propagation constant and the electric
field of the known profile .
As already mentioned, the main issue with the
mode neff distribution in step-index fibers (see
Fig. 1) stems from the small separation between
LP21 and LP02 modes. The optimization takes
place in two steps.
Step 1:
We begin by investigating the addition of a
4
depressed inner core to a previously optimized
four-LP-mode step-index fiber at 1550nm with
index contrast 12 = 9.7103 and radius
= 7.5 m. We optimize the RI depression to
obtain a design with more equally spaced
modes. This is achieved by fixing the outer
radius, a, and index of the ring, 1 as in the
above selected design and by varying the index
of the core depression, 3 as well as its width, b.
We then consider the objective function
=
f (b, n3 ) LP11 (b, n3 ) 3 + LP21 (b, n3 ) 2 +
LP02 (b, n3 ) =
; (b, n3 ) [ LP01 (b, n3 ) n2 ] / 4

(2)

In the objective function, the effective index of

each LP mode is referred to as well as the
optimum spacing, , between modes defined in
terms of the difference between the effective
index of the LP01 mode and the cladding 2 .
The mode neff distribution of the optimally
perturbed inner core are shown in Fig. 2 (solid
lines). The inner core depression overlaps
mostly with the cylindrically-symmetric LP01 and
LP02 modes and as expected from Eq. (1) their
neff is reduced. LP11 and LP21 on the other hand
have intensity minima in the core centre and
therefore the index depression leaves them
almost unaffected.
Although the inner core depression increases
the LP21 - LP02 index difference, this is mainly
achieved by lowering the LP02 index closer to
the cladding refractive index, which increases
the macro- and micro-bending sensitivity of the
design. Fibers with depressed inner cladding
have been discussed in the context of MM fibers
8
with maximum four-wave mixing .
Step 2:
In order to improve the LP02 micro- and macrobending performance and maintain the improved
LP21 LP02 effective index separation we

consider the addition of localized RI

perturbations in the cladding overlapping
optimally with the four intensity lobes of the LP21
mode. We have added 2 m radius high-index
rods a distance of 1 m from the edge of the
outer core. Such cylindrically non-symmetric
perturbation increases the effective indices of
LP21 and LP02 by amounts given by Eq. (1) (see
Fig. 2). As expected, modes LP01 and LP11 are
affected by small amounts due to negligible
overlaps with the additional perturbations.
Representative LP-mode field distributions of
1.458
Step LP01
Step LP11
Step LP21
Step LP02
Optimum ring LP01
Optimum ring LP11
Optimum ring LP21
Optimum ring LP02
Rod LP01
Rod LP11
Rod LP21
Rod LP02

1.456
1.454
1.452

neff

+k

1.45
1.448
1.446
1.444
1.3

1.4

1.5
1.6
Wavelength (m)

1.7

1.8

Fig. 2: Mode effective-index distribution for standard SI

fiber (+), optimally-depressed core (step-1 solid) and
fully optimized RI distribution (step1 + step2 - dashed)

the fully optimized (step1+step2) profiles are

shown in Fig. 3. It is shown that the cylindrically
non-symmetric modes LP11 and LP21 are aligned
with the added cladding rods. At this point, we
LP11

LP01

(a)

(b)

LP02

LP21

(c)

(d)

Fig. 3: Orientation of equalized effective-index modes

with respect to index modifying rods (a) LP01 , (b) LP11,
(c) LP21 and (d) LP02

should mention that the addition of RI perturbing

rods in the fiber cladding breaks the rotational
degeneracy of the LP11 and LP21 modes. The
mode profiles with maxima falling between the
RI modifying rods have effective indices close to

Ecoc 2015 - ID: 0501

Tab. 1: Performance comparison of new designs with state-of-the-art step-index fibers4 (@ =1550nm)

LP01
-3
7.7x10
-3
7.7x10
-3
8.3x10
151
124

Mode
neff-ncl (ring - step 1)
neff-ncl (rods step1+step 2)
4
neff-ncl ref
DGD w.r.t LP01 (ns/km) (step1+step2)
4
DGD w.r.t LP01 (ns/km) ) ref
2
Aeff (m ) (step1+step2)
2
4
Aeff (m ) ref

the unperturbed case. In addition to shifting the

mode effective index, the RI modifying rods
lock the optimum separation modes spatially
inside the fiber. This avoids unwanted modal
rotation which complicates enormously the
efficient mode demultiplexing and detection at
the end of the optical link. The benefits of such
spatial mode locking in the case of dual-moded
fiber have been achieved by using elliptical core
fibers. In the case of single-mode fiber, this is
equivalent to fixing mode polarization by using
high-bi fibers.
The performance of the new fiber designs,
with optimally spaced mode effective indices,
and the comparison with state-of-the-art SI
4
fibers are summarized in Tab. 1 and Tab. 2. In
addition to the discussed mode spacings, we
compare the differential group delays (DGD)
and mode effective areas. The last two
parameters define the nonlinear performance of
the fibers. It is shown that in addition to
improved mode effective-index distribution the
new designs provide substantially larger mode
effective areas. The DGDs are in excess of
4ns/km for all the supported modes. It is
therefore expected to have superior non-linear
performance in comparison with standard SI
fibers.
Tab. 2: Mode spacing comparison of new designs with stateof-the-art step-index fibers (@ =1550nm)

Mode Spacing

LP01-LP11

Ring (step1)

2.0x10

Rods
(step1+step 2)

1.7x10

LP11-LP21

-3

2.7x10

1.1x10

-3

2.1x10

-3

2.8x10

-3

-3

1.2x10

-3

0.8x10

-3

2.3x10

References
D. J.
[1]
[2]

[3]

[4]

-3

[6]

Conclusions
We have proposed a new MMF design with
improved mode spacing, suitable for UC-MDM
optical communications. The design involves
two steps and it is based on fundamental and

LP02
-3
1.9x10
-3
2.7x10
-3
2.4x10
3.9
7.2
171
127

Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge funding support for
this work from the Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through
the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing
in Photonics (grant EP/H02607X/1).

[5]

ref

LP21
-3
3.0x10
-3
3.9x10
-3
3.2x10
6.2
8.5
172
133

intuitive waveguide principles. The new design

incorporates first an optimized core depression,
which affects primarily LP01 and LP02 mode
effective indices. This optimized perturbation
increases the LP21-LP02 mode spacing but can
potentially compromise the fiber micro- and
macro-bending behaviour. This effect has been
counter-balanced by incorporating four optimally
placed thin high-index rods in close proximity
with the fiber core. This increases primarily the
effective indices of the LP21 and LP02 modes
without affecting significantly their spacing. The
small LP21-LP02 mode spacing limitation,
encountered in standard SI profiles, has been
substantially improved by 40-100%. In addition,
the new fiber design shows increased effective
2
areas, in excess of 150 m for all supported
modes, which is expected to give superior
nonlinear performance.

LP21-LP02

-3

LP11
-3
5.7x10
-3
6.0x10
-3
6.0x10
4.4
4.4
203
118

[7]
[8]

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935 (1975).
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