Few-mode optical transmission systems in the visible band

This paper introduces the principles and current technology of few-mode transmission in guided optical medium for systems operating in the visible band. The visible band opens up the possibility of using standard single mode fibre, as few-mode propagation media, with the advantage of lower cost than equivalent C+L components. Few-mode transmission performance is analysed in detail considering the propagation of two degenerated modes with modal and chromatic dispersion transmission impairments. The results indicate that few-mode optical transmission systems can be used as high-capacity optical interconnects and high-performance computing networks providing 1 Gbps at 322 m operating at 850 nm or 10 Gbps at 11.8 km with 1064 nm.