Price-Points for Components of Multi-Core Fiber Communication Systems

The capacity limit of conventional optical fiber is being approached, and spatial multiplexing on strands of optical fiber is being pursued because of its potential to significantly increase the capacity of optical transmission systems and networks. Here we estimate price-points under several scenarios for the critical enabling components of potential ultra-high-capacity optical fiber transmission systems based on multi-core fibers. Counter-intuitively, even when existing conduit is exhausted. we find the modeled price premium of multi-core fiber to be modest relative to fiber ribbon cable. I. Introduction Today, the foundations of local, regional, national, and global communication infrastructures are networks of optical fiber transmission systems. Optical fiber provides enormous transmission capacity, and low cost for transporting data over distances spanning meters to thousands of kilometers (megameters) is achieved by encoding data using nearly all of the independent characteristics of light. In particular, contemporary optical communication systems incorporate time-division multiplexing, frequency- (or wavelength-) division multiplexing, and polarizationdivision multiplexing of guided lightwaves, as well as multi-level coding techniques, and have spectral densities approaching the Shannon limit [1]. As the practical capacity of present optical fiber is reached, higher levels of integration will become increasingly important to further increase capacity and reduce costs. Among the concepts being pursued to increase capacity and lower cost is spatial-division multiplexing on the optical fiber [2].