3 × 104 Gb/s Single-λ Interconnect of Mode-Division Multiplexed Network with a Multicore Fiber

In this paper, we study the use of silicon microring modulators in an integrated mode-division multiplexing (MDM) network for short-reach interconnects using discrete multitone (DMT) modulation. A fiber grating coupler array is used as a high-speed optical interface between the on-chip mode channels and off-chip multicore fiber (MCF). The whole link has a crosstalk level lower than-23.1 dB. The MDM network can work without the crosstalk compensation of digital signal processing. We present experimental results of the linearity of the silicon microring modulator in terms of spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR). The third-order intermodulation distortion SFDR is 93.4 dB/Hz^2/3 at 20 GHz. We can improve system performance by using adaptive nonlinear equalizer at the DMT receiver to mitigate transmitter and transmission impairments. An aggregate bitrate above 312 Gb/s is achieved with a bit error ratio of 3.8 × 10^-3. With the addition of nonlinear equalizer, the line rates of the MDM network can be further increased to about 330 Gb/s. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of single wavelength DMT transmission in MDM network with MCF.