41.6 Tbit/s C-Band SDM OFDM Transmission Through 12 Spatial and Polarization Modes Over 74.17 km Few Mode Fiber

Signal transmission with capacity of 41.6 Tbit/s (net data rate 16.8 Tbit/s) over 12 spatial and polarization modes is demonstrated. Dense optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signals with a channel spacing of 16.7 GHz across the full C band is generated. The resulting 12 tributaries are (de-)multiplexed using a novel fully packaged photonic lantern based 3-D-waveguide spatial-multiplexer. The spatially multiplexed signals are transmitted over 74.17-km weakly coupled six-mode few mode fiber enabling inline differential mode delay compensation. All 12 tributaries are detected using three oscilloscopes via coherent heterodyne receiver. The bit error rate of the 255 channel in each mode is evaluated to be below the forward error correction limit 2.4 $\,\times\,$ 10 ${\bf ^{-2}}$ assuming 20% overhead.