Abstract

Global Internet data demand is rapidly approaching the fundamental transmission capacity limit of single-mode optical fibres. One of the most promising technologies to avoid the looming capacity crunch is mode-division multiplexing [1]. Mode-division multiplexing exploits higher-order modes supported by few-moded or multi-moded optical fibres as individual, parallel data channels. As a result, the fibre transmission capacity can be scaled proportional to the number of utilized modes. Key components for future mode-division multiplexed communication systems are mode-multiplexers that enable the selective excitation and detection of the individual modes of the fibres.

© 2017 IEEE