High gain distributed Raman amplifier for orbital angular momentum mode-division multiplexing and wavelength-division...

Mode-division multiplexing (MDM) and wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) are regarded as effective solutions for enhancing the communication capacity of fiber-optic transmission systems. To extend the transmission distance, a suitable amplification technique is required to amplify the signal light, with distributed Raman amplifier (DRA) offering a high-flat gain. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate the transmission of 3 orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode-division multiplexing and 9 wavelength-division multiplexing ranging from 1530 nm to 1610 nm over a 104-km self-designed ring-core fiber (RCF) with the assistance of DRA. The homemade all-fiber mode selective couplers (MSCs) can (de)multiplex OAM modes (OAM₀₁, OAM₁₁, OAM₂₁) efficiently in long-distance MDM + WDM fiber-optic transmission systems. The OAM-DRA provides high gain (with an on-off gain greater than 10 dB) as well as flat gain (with a differential wavelength gain of less than 0.88 dB and a differential mode gain of less than 0.28 dB) over the C + L band.