Optoelectronic Key Elements for Polymeric Fiber Transmission Systems

In short-range communication 1 mm PMMA SI-POF established itself as a reasonable alternative to the traditional data communication media such as glass fibers, copper cables, and wireless systems. Due to multiple advantages such as a large core diameter, tolerance to fiber facet damages, and low installation costs, the SI-POF is already applied in industrial automation, automotive industry, and in-house/office networks. To experimentally demonstrate the feasibility and potential of a high-speed POF WDM concept, a four-channel data transmission setup was realized. A four-legged multiplexing POF bundle was developed to combine the signals from four visible laser diodes onto SI-POF link. For the separation of wavelength channels, the interference filter-based demultiplexer with two-stage configuration was used. It was shown that POF WDM with lower channel rates and simple transmission technique (NRZ + FFE) could provide aggregate bit rates comparable to those achieved with the single-wavelength systems that used advanced modulation formats (DMT or PAM + DFE) and required significant signal processing. In addition, the 50 m SI-POF link at an aggregate bit rate of 7.8 Gb/s was demonstrated over 50 m SI-POF, respectively, at the BER = 10–3