Demonstration of Bidirectional PON Based on Mode Division Multiplexing

Abstract

Recently, mode division multiplexing (MDM) has been introduced into optical transmission systems and networks for capacity enhancement. In this letter, we propose a bidirectional passive optical network (PON) architecture based on MDM. The bidirectional optical distribution network of the MDM-PON consists of few-mode fiber, passive mode multiplexer/demultiplexer, and few-mode circulators, all of which are characterized by low modal-crosstalk. Signals in different modes are able to be transmitted and received independently for both downstream and upstream transmission. We experimentally demonstrate the bidirectional MDM-PON transmission over 10-km two-mode optical fiber. The 10-Gb/s ON–OFF-keying signals can be independently transmitted and directly detected without coherent receiver and multiple-input multiple-output processing. Moreover, nonlinear transmission impairments are experimentally investigated.