Measurements and modeling of multipath interference at wavelengths below cable cut-off in a G.654 optical fiber span

Transmission below the cable cut-off wavelength may be a concern in some systems, especially for an optical supervisory channel (OSC) operating below the signal transmission band in systems built with G.654 fiber. In this work, we constructed a cabled span of G.654-compliant fiber and measured the multipath interference (MPI) generated during propagation through the span at a range of wavelengths below the cable cut-offs of the constituent fibers. Measurements were made under a range of conditions including different splice losses and the presence or absence of higher order mode filters placed around the splices. MPI levels were found to be sufficiently low at wavelengths far below the average cable cut-off such that OSC transmission was penalty-free. We compare the experimental results to modeling predictions and find very good agreement.