First demonstration of a scalable MDM/CDM optical access system

A novel hybrid all-optical mode-division multiplexing and code division multiplexing architecture for flexible and scalable access networks is presented. We successfully demonstrate, for the first time, an asynchronous on-off keying modulation, 2 mode x 4 code x 10 Gbps transmission over 42-km link, using a set of single-mode and two-mode fibers, without dispersion compensation. The four phase-shift keyed optical codes are generated at a single wavelength, by a multiport encoder/decoder, and we use an optical mode multiplexer/demultiplexer in the remote node and at the central office. We also experimentally evaluate the mode crosstalk tolerance considering different access span distances for the LP(01) and LP(11) modes.