Fiber Design of Novel Fibers for Ultimate Throughput

This thesis explores an innovative optical fiber design to achieve ultimate throughput in optical communications, addressing the pressing challenge of meeting the exponentially growing data capacity demands. Recognizing that achieving high throughput necessitates transmitting high optical power, this research systematically investigates the fiber fuse (FF) phenomenon—one of the key challenges that arise when delivering high power through optical fibers. Through a combination of experimental characterization and rigorous numerical simulations, the study first establishes a comprehensive understanding of FF power thresholds and propagation dynamics in various existing Space-division Multiplexing (SDM) fibers, including few-mode fibers (FMFs), multi-mode fibers (MMFs), and multi-core fibers (MCFs). Based on these findings, the study explores air-gap (AG) fiber designs that show promising resilience under high-power conditions; for instance, a six-core AG-MCF withstood power levels exceeding 20 W without triggering the FF. Building on these insights, a novel two-core ring-core fiber (RCF) incorporating AG structures is proposed, numerically analyzed, and successfully fabricated. The results of this work not only deepen our understanding of FF mechanisms but also provide valuable strategies for fiber design and highlight key fabrication challenges essential to the development of robust, high-capacity SDM optical fibers.