A Large-Core Microstructure Optical Fiber for Co-Transmission of Signal and Power

A microstructure optical fiber (MOF) for co-transmission of signal and power is manufactured to provide power for remote antenna units (RAUs) and make the deployment of central stations fast and flexible. For a high laser damage threshold and a great refractive index difference, the MOF we proposed has a large core and an air ring in cladding pattern with regular holes. To realize high-quality signal transmission and flexible deployment, the MOF is made of pure silica. In this case, material dispersion, nonlinearity effects and bending loss can be restrained. Above all, the MOF with a high optical local capability and multiband optical transmission could be fabricated easily by traditional stack drawing method. Specifically, fiber loss is 2.26 dB/km at 976 nm and 1.44 dB/km at 1550 nm, acquired by the cut-back method. When the MOF was connected to a communication system with a 64-level quadrature amplitude modulation (64-QAM) 4 GHz frequency signal, an error vector magnitude (EVM) of 0.89% to 1.07% was obtained by the receiver. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time a MOF has achieved co-transmission of signal and power. This work strongly suggests that MOF is applicable for the deployment of communication central station and emergency communication system in the future.

Automated summary

The MOF manufactured in this study is designed for the co-transmission of signal and power, providing remote antenna units with power and facilitating fast and flexible deployment of central stations. It is made of pure silica to achieve high-quality signal transmission and flexible deployment, and has a high optical local capability for multiband optical transmission. The MOF demonstrates low fiber loss and excellent signal transmission performance when connected to a communication system, making it a promising option for future communication infrastructure.