We design and fabricate a novel multicore fiber (MCF), with seven cores arranged in a hexagonal array. The fiber properties of MCF including low crosstalk, attenuation and splice loss are described. A new tapered MCF connector (TMC), showing ultra-low crosstalk and losses, is also designed and fabricated for coupling the individual signals in-and-out of the MCF. We further propose a novel network configuration using parallel transmissions with the MCF and TMC for passive optical network (PON). To the best of our knowledge, we demonstrate the first bi-directional parallel transmissions of 1310 nm and 1490 nm signals over 11.3-km of seven-core MCF with 64-way splitter for PON.

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We describe a new multicore fiber (MCF) having seven single-mode cores arranged in a hexagonal array, exhibiting low crosstalk among the cores and low loss across the C and L bands. We experimentally demonstrate a record transmission capacity of 112 Tb/s over a 76.8-km MCF using space-division multiplexing and dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM). Each core carries 160 107-Gb/s polarization-division multiplexed quadrature phase-shift keying (PDM-QPSK) channels on a 50-GHz grid in the C and L bands, resulting in an aggregate spectral efficiency of 14 b/s/Hz. We further investigate the impact of the inter-core crosstalk on a 107-Gb/s PDM-QPSK signal after transmitting through the center core of the MCF when all the 6 outer cores carry same-wavelength 107-Gb/s signals with equal powers, and discuss the system implications of core-to-core crosstalk on ultra-long-haul transmission.

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Recently introduced surface nanoscale axial photonics (SNAP) makes it possible to fabricate high-Q-factor microresonators and other photonic microdevices by dramatically small deformation of the optical fiber surface. To become a practical and robust technology, the SNAP platform requires methods enabling reproducible modification of the optical fiber radius at nanoscale. In this Letter, we demonstrate superaccurate fabrication of high-Q-factor microresonators by nanoscale modification of the optical fiber radius and refractive index using CO 2 laser and UV excimer laser beam exposures. The achieved fabrication accuracy is better than 2 Å in variation of the effective fiber radius. © 2011 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 060.2340, 140.3945, 230.3990. Surface nanoscale axial photonics (SNAP) is concerned with microscopic optical devices created by smooth and dramatically small nanoscale variation of the optical fiber radius and/or equivalent variation of its refractive index [1,2]. SNAP is based on whispering gallery modes (WGMs), which slowly propagate along the fiber axis and circulate around its surface. Unlike slow light in photonic crystals, which is introduced with the periodic modulation of the refractive index [3], the slow axial propagation of light in SNAP is insured automatically by periodic revolution around the fiber surface. The direction of light propagation considered in SNAP is primarily azimuthal so that the axial propagation is naturally slow. There is both fundamental and applied interest in the development of SNAP. The SNAP devices are fabricated of drawn silica and, hence, exhibit very small losses and high Q factors, similar to those of silica WGM microresonators [4]. In addition, the characteristic axial wavelength of these devices is much greater than the wavelength of light, which makes them convenient for investigation of fundamental properties of light, e.g., tunneling, halting by a point source, and formation of dark states [1,2]. For the same reason, a large axial wavelength simplifies accurate fabrication of high-Q-factor microresonators and other microdevices at the surface of a fiber. Typically, the SNAP photonic elements have tens of micrometer dimensions and a record small attenuation of light with a Q factor in excess of 10 6 [1,2]. This suggests SNAP as a potential platform for miniature integrated photonic circuits having attenuation of light that is orders of magnitude smaller than that in microscopic devices fabricated with the existing photonic platforms [5][6][7].This Letter solves a challenging problem of accurate and reproducible modification of the optical fiber effective radius at nanoscale, which is critical for establishing of SNAP as a practical technology. We propose and demonstrate the fabrication of high-Q-factor SNAP microresonators (Fig. 1) based on IR (CO 2 laser) and UV (248 nm excimer laser) beam exposures.In our experiments, illustrated in Fig. 2, the local perturbations of the optical fiber shape and/or refractive index introduced by the IR and ...