Bending and twisting effects on multicore fiber differential group delay

Area of Science:

• Optical Fiber Communications
• Photonics
• Telecommunications Engineering

Background:

• Homogeneous 7-core fibers offer potential for increased data transmission capacity.
• Fiber optic performance can be significantly impacted by physical deformations like bending and twisting.
• Controlling group delay is crucial for maintaining signal integrity in high-speed networks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To theoretically and experimentally evaluate the impact of fiber bending and twisting on the group delay performance of a homogeneous 7-core fiber.
• To investigate the differential group delay between central and outer cores under various bending and twisting conditions.
• To determine if fiber twisting can mitigate the negative effects of bending on group delay.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical modeling of fiber bending and twisting effects.
• Experimental evaluation of differential group delay (DGD) in a 7-core fiber.
• Systematic variation of curvature radii and twisting parameters.
• Analysis of DGD measurements under different physical stress conditions.

Main Results:

• Fiber bending introduces significant differential group delay between the cores.
• Fiber twisting was demonstrated to counteract the degradation in group delay performance caused by fiber bending.
• The effectiveness of twisting in mitigating bending-induced DGD was quantified for different conditions.

Conclusions:

• Fiber twisting is a viable method to improve the group delay stability of 7-core fibers.
• These findings have direct implications for the design and deployment of advanced optical communication systems.
• Optimized fiber management, including controlled twisting, is essential for time-sensitive applications in radio-over-fiber and microwave photonics.