Demonstration of amplified data transmission at 2 µm in a low-loss wide bandwidth hollow core photonic bandgap fiber

• Main Authors: Petrovich, M.N (Author), Poletti, F. (Author), Wooler, J.P (Author), Heidt, A.M (Author), Baddela, N.K (Author), Li, Zhihong (Author), Gray, D.R (Author), Slavík, R. (Author), Parmigiani, F. (Author), Wheeler, N.V (Author), Hayes, John (Author), Numkam Fokoua, Eric (Author), Grüner-Nielsen, L. (Author), Pálsdóttir, B. (Author), Phelan, R. (Author), Kelly, B. (Author), O'Carroll, J. (Author), Becker, M. (Author), MacSuibhne, N. (Author), Zhao, J. (Author), Garcia Gunning, F.C (Author), Ellis, A.D (Author), Petropoulos, P. (Author), Alam, S.U (Author), Richardson, D.J (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2013.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 The first demonstration of a hollow core photonic bandgap fiber (HC-PBGF) suitable for high-rate data transmission in the 2 µm waveband is presented. The fiber has a record low loss for this wavelength region (4.5 dB/km at 1980 nm) and a >150 nm wide surface-mode-free transmission window at the center of the bandgap. Detailed analysis of the optical modes and their propagation along the fiber, carried out using a time-of-flight technique in conjunction with spatially and spectrally resolved (S2) imaging, provides clear evidence that the HC-PBGF can be operated as quasi-single mode even though it supports up to four mode groups. Through the use of a custom built Thulium doped fiber amplifier with gain bandwidth closely matched to the fiber's low loss window, error-free 8 Gbit/s transmission in an optically amplified data channel at 2008nm over 290m of 19 cell HC-PBGF is reported.