High-capacity transmission with homogeneous multi-core fibers and wideband optical comb sources

We describe a number of experiments demonstrating and exploring the potential of combing wideband-optical comb sources with space-division multiplexed transmission systems and in particular with homogeneous-single-mode multicore fibers including Pb/s transmission using conventional receiver technology without MIMO processing and long-distance recirculating transmission. We describe experiments using synchronized parallel transmission loops to investigate joint processing of spatial super channels and multi-dimensional modulation before discussing how optical comb technology may combine with SDM fibers to allow comb re-generation across networks to enable high-order modulation with simplified DSP. Overall, these experiments demonstrate a range of scenarios where the combination of optical combs and homogeneous MCFs can be advantageous in future optical communications networks.