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Randomly-coupled multi-core fiber (MCF) technology has come to attract lots of attention because of its strong applicability to long-haul transmission systems. Compared with weakly-coupled MCFs with independent cores, it can simultaneously realize higher spatial channel density and ultralow transmission loss using existing ultralow-loss single-mode fiber (SMF) core designs. The strong mode coupling characteristics of randomly-coupled MCFs can provide favorable optical properties, such as suppressed accumulation of modal dispersion (MD), mode-dependent loss (MDL), and nonlinear impairments. This article gives an overview of randomly-coupled MCF technology advancements. First, we describe the classification and design of randomly-coupled MCFs and explain what the randomly-coupled MCFs are and how they are designed. State-of-the-art randomly-coupled MCFs can accommodate four, seven, or 12 cores in a standard 125- $\mu \text{m}$ cladding while achieving ultralow transmission loss and/or small MD, which are very promising for long-haul transmission media. Next, we present the methods to characterize the optical properties of randomly-coupled MCFs and the difference compared to conventional SMF measurements. We also show the low-loss low-MDL connectivity of this type of MCF and the cabling that can suppress MD. A field-deployed randomly-coupled MCF cable testbed is also presented, which confirmed the favorable optical properties of randomly-coupled MCFs after deployment. Then, multi-core amplifier technologies are briefly summarized, and finally, we discuss the performance improvements in the transmissions over randomly-coupled MCFs and suitable application areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spectral efficiency (SE) is one of the key metrics for optical communication networks. An important building block for its maximization are optical superchannels, channels that are composed of several subchannels with an aggregate bandwidth larger than the bandwidth of the detector electronics. Superchannels which are routed through the network as a single entity, together with flex-grid routing, allow to more efficiently utilize available bandwidth and eliminate the guard-bands between channels, thus increasing spectral efficiency. In contrast to traditional wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) channels, subchannel spacing and thus superchannel SE is governed by the linewidth and stability of the frequency spacing of the transmitter lasers. Integrated optical frequency combs, particulary the parametrically generated so-called microcombs, which provide optical lines on a fixed frequency grid are a promising solution for low power superchannel laser sources that allow to minimize the SE loss from suboptimal channel spacing. However, it is extremely challenging to realize microcombs with sufficient line power, coherence and line spacing that is compatible with electronic bandwidths. Because the line-spacing generated by most devices is above 40 GHz, demonstrations often rely on additional electro-optic frequency shifter or divider stages to avoid digital-to-analog-converter (DAC) performance degradation when operating at high symbol rates. Here we demonstrate a 52-line superchannel from a single 22 GHz line spacing soliton microcomb. We demonstrate 12 Tb/s throughput with > 10 bits/s/Hz SE efficiency after 80 km transmission and 8 Tb/s throughput (SE > 6 bits/s/Hz) after 2100 km, proving the feasibility and benefits of generating high signal quality, broadband waveforms directly from the output of a micro-scale device with a symbol rate close to the comb repetition rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance monitoring is an essential function for margin measurements in live systems. Historically, system budgets have been described by the Q-factor converted from the bit error rate (BER) under binary modulation and direct detection. The introduction of hard forward error correction (FEC) did not change this. In recent years, technologies have changed significantly to comprise coherent detection, multilevel modulation and soft FEC. In such advanced systems, different metrics such as (nomalized) generalized mutual information (GMI/NGMI) and asymmetric information (ASI) are regarded as being more reliable. On the other hand, Q budgets are still useful because pre-FEC BER monitoring is established in industry for live system monitoring. The pre-FEC BER is easily estimated from available information of the number of flipped bits in the FEC decoding, which does not require knowledge of the transmitted bits that are unknown in live systems. Therefore, the use of metrics like GMI/NGMI/ASI for performance monitoring has not been possible in live systems. However, in this work we propose a blind soft-performance estimation method. Based on a histogram of log-likelihood-values without the knowledge of the transmitted bits, we show how the ASI can be estimated. We examine the proposed method experimentally for 16- and 64-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and probabilistically shaped 16-, 64-, and 256-QAM in recirculating loop experiments. We see a relative error of ${3.6}\%$ , which corresponds to around $0.5\,\mathrm{dB}$ signal-to-noise ratio difference for binary modulation, in the regime where the ASI is larger than the assumed FEC threshold. For this proposed method, the digital signal processing circuitry requires only the minimal additional function of storing the L-value histograms before the soft FEC decoder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber-optical networks are a crucial telecommunication infrastructure in society. Wavelength division multiplexing allows for transmitting parallel data streams over the fiber bandwidth, and coherent detection enables the use of sophisticated modulation formats and electronic compensation of signal impairments. Optical frequency combs can replace the multiple lasers used for the different wavelength channels. Beyond multiplexing, it has been suggested that the broadband phase coherence of frequency combs could simplify the receiver scheme by performing joint reception and processing of several wavelength channels, but an experimental validation in a fiber transmission experiment remains elusive. Here we demonstrate and quantify joint reception and processing of several wavelength channels in a full transmission system. We demonstrate two joint processing schemes; one that reduces the phase-tracking complexity and one that increases the transmission performance. Frequency combs have the potential to be used as multi-wavelength sources in future optical communications through fiber. Here the authors demonstrate joint phase processing of multi-wavelength comb transmission, and show two schemes to improve performance and reduce complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser frequency combs with repetition rates on the order of 10 GHz and higher can be used as multi-carrier sources in wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM). They allow replacing tens of tunable continuous-wave lasers by a single laser source. In addition, the comb's line spacing stability and broadband phase coherence enable signal processing beyond what is possible with an array of independent lasers. Modern WDM systems operate with advanced modulation formats and coherent receivers. This introduces stringent requirements in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, power per line, and optical linewidth which can be challenging to attain for frequency comb sources. Here, we set quantitative benchmarks for these characteristics and discuss tradeoffs in terms of transmission reach and achievable data rates. We also highlight recent achievements for comb-based superchannels, including >10  Tb/s transmission with extremely high spectral efficiency, and the possibility to significantly simplify the coherent receiver by realizing joint digital signal processing. We finally discuss advances with microresonator frequency combs and compare their performance in terms of flatness and conversion efficiency against state-of-the-art electro-optic frequency comb generators. This contribution provides guidelines for developing frequency comb sources in coherent fiber-optic communication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital back propagation (DBP) is often proposed and implemented offline for the mitigation of nonlinear impairments in long-haul fiber communications. However, complexity in terms of chip area and power consumption in a realistic application-specific integrated circuit implementation is yet to be determined. Here, we implement time-domain DBP (TD-DBP) in a 28-nm fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator process technology, considering digital implementation aspects such as limited-resolution arithmetic and finite-length filters. We choose as example a coherent optical transmission system, viz. a single-channel, single-polarization, and 20-GBd 16-QAM system, for which the DBP is known to perform well. For the considered system, we find that the TD-DBP can enable a reach increase from 3400 to 5300 km, at a power dissipation of <20 W (or, conversely, an energy dissipation of <230 pJ/bit), at a pre-FEC BER of $10^{-2}$. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]