1.12-Tb/s 32-QAM-OFDM Superchannel with 8.6-b/s/Hz Intrachannel Spectral Efficiency and Space-Division Multiplexed Transmission with 60-b/s/Hz Aggregate Spectral Efficiency
12 December 2011
We demonstrate the generation of a 1.12-Tb/s superchannel based on coherent optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing with polarization-division multiplexed 32-QAM subcarriers, achieving a net intrachannel-spectral-efficiency (ISE) of 8.6 b/s/Hz. Using space-division multiplexing (SDM), we transmit this superchannel over a 76.8-km lowcrosstalk multi-core-fiber (MCF) with a record aggregate ISE of 60 b/s/Hz per fiber. We also discuss the impact of core-to-core crosstalk on transmission performance, as well as future perspectives of MCF-based SDM transmission. ©2011 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (060.2330) Fiber optics communications, (060.4230) Multiplexing, (060.1660) Coherent communications.