Spatial division multiplexing for optical data center networks

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The Orbital Angular Momentum of Light for Ultra-High Capacity Data Centers

The potential of orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light in data center scenarios is presented. OAMs can be exploited for short reach ultra-high bit rate fiber links and as additional multiplexing domain in transparent ultra-high capacity optical switches. Recent advances on OAM integrated photonic technology are also reported. Finally demonstration of OAM-based fiber links (aggregate throughput 17.9 Tb/s) and two layers OAM-WDM-based optical switches are presented exploiting OAM integrated components and demonstrating the achievable benefits in terms of size, weight and power consumption (SWaP) compared to different technologies

Mode division multiplexing using an orbital angular momentum mode sorter and MIMO-DSP over a graded-index few-mode optical fibre

Mode division multiplexing (MDM)– using a multimode optical fiber’s N spatial modes as data channels to transmit N independent data streams – has received interest as it can potentially increase optical fiber data transmission capacity N-times with respect to single mode optical fibers. Two challenges of MDM are (1) designing mode (de)multiplexers with high mode selectivity (2) designing mode (de)multiplexers without cascaded beam splitting’s 1/N insertion loss. One spatial mode basis that has received interest is that of orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes. In this paper, using a device referred to as an OAM mode sorter, we show that OAM modes can be (de)multiplexed over a multimode optical fiber with higher than −15 dB mode selectivity and without cascaded beam splitting’s 1/N insertion loss. As a proof of concept, the OAM modes of the LP11 mode group (OAM−1,0 and OAM+1,0), each carrying 20-Gbit/s polarization division multiplexed and quadrature phase shift keyed data streams, are transmitted 5km over a graded-index, few-mode optical fibre. Channel crosstalk is mitigated using 4 × 4 multiple-input-multiple-output digital-signal-processing with <1.5 dB power penalties at a bit-error-rate of 2 × 10−3

Space-Division Multiplexing in Data Center Networks: On Multi-Core Fiber Solutions and Crosstalk-Suppressed Resource Allocation

The rapid growth of traffic inside data centers caused by the increasing adoption of cloud services necessitates a scalable and cost-efficient networking infrastructure. Space-division multiplexing (SDM) is considered as a promising solution to overcome the optical network capacity crunch and support cost-effective network capacity scaling. Multi-core fiber (MCF) is regarded as the most feasible and efficient way to realize SDM networks, and its deployment inside data centers seems very likely as the issue of inter-core crosstalk (XT) is not severe over short link spans (<1  km ) compared to that in long-haul transmission. However, XT can still have a considerable effect in MCF over short distances, which can limit the transmission reach and in turn the data center’s size. XT can be further reduced by bi-directional transmission of optical signals in adjacent MCF cores. This paper evaluates the benefits of MCF-based SDM solutions in terms of maximizing the capacity and spatial efficiency of data center networks. To this end, we present an analytical model for XT in bi-directional normal step-index and trench-assisted MCFs and propose corresponding XT-aware core prioritization schemes. We further develop XT-aware spectrum resource allocation strategies aimed at relieving the complexity of online XT computation. These strategies divide the available spectrum into disjoint bands and incrementally add them to the pool of accessible resources based on the network conditions. Several combinations of core mapping and spectrum resource allocation algorithms are investigated for eight types of homogeneous MCFs comprising 7–61 cores, three different multiplexing schemes, and three data center network topologies with two traffic scenarios. Extensive simulation results show that combining bi-directional transmission in dense core fibers with tailored resource allocation schemes significantly increases the network capacity. Moreover, a multiplexing scheme that combines SDM and WDM can achieve up to 33 times higher link spatial efficiency and up to 300 times greater capacity compared to a WDM solution