Authors:
Andreas Ahrens
;
André Sandmann
and
Steffen Lochmann
Affiliation:
Hochschule Wismar, University of Applied Sciences: Technology and Business and Design, Germany
Keyword(s):
Multiple-input Multiple-output Transmission, Optical MIMO, Photonic Lantern, Singular-value Decomposition.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Optical Communication Systems
;
Optical Modulation and Signal Processing
;
Telecommunications
Abstract:
Within the last years the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology has attracted increasing interest
in the optical fiber community. Theoretically, the concept of MIMO is well-understood and shows some
similarities to wireless MIMO systems. However, practical implementations of optical components are in the
focus of interest. Optical couplers have long been used as passive optical components being able to combine
or split single-input single-output (SISO) data transmissions. They have been proven to be well-suited for
the optical MIMO transmission despite their insertion losses and asymmetries. Nowadays, next to optical
couplers, photonic lanterns (PLs) have attracted a lot of attention in the research community as they offer the
benefit of a low loss transition from the input fibers to the modes supported by the waveguide at its output. In
this contribution the properties of a six-port PL are evaluated by measurements with regards to their respective
MIMO suitabilit
y. Based on the obtained results, a simplified time-domain MIMO simulation model, including
PLs for mode combining at the transmitter-side as well as for mode splitting at the receiver-side, is elaborated.
Our results obtained by the simulated bit-error rate (BER) performance as well as by measurements show that
PLs are well-suited for the optical MIMO transmission.
(More)