Core arrangement optimization of a 12-core weakly-coupled fibre for unidirectional transmission

Abstract

Weakly-coupled multi-core fibres (WC-MCFs) are a strong candidate for short-reach space-division multiplexing; however, inter-core crosstalk (ICXT) remains a primary performance bottleneck for high core-count, being highly dependent on core positioning. In this work, a core arrangement optimization framework based on Sequential Quadratic Programming with a multi-start strategy is proposed to minimize the total ICXT in homogeneous trench-assisted WC-MCFs (TA-WC-MCFs) with a high number of cores for unidirectional transmission, in the C and L-bands. The proposed method identifies an optimal core arrangement of a 12-core WC-MCF, which remains unchanged across different wavelengths and fibre lengths. The optimized arrangement achieves a 0.5 dB ICXT improvement over the best reported in literature, enabling longer link distances.