Beyond Exabit Optical Communications: towards transceiver integration

该奖学金的目的是通过理论和实验开发破坏性方法，以释放未来信息系统的能力。超越当前光纤通道的限制可以说是数字光通信面临的最大挑战。为了实现这一目标，拟议的研究将结合联合收割机技术，从信息理论，编码，高维调制格式，数字信号处理，先进的光子设计和机器学习，使可能的突破性发展，以确保一个强大的通信基础设施超越明天。光通信迄今已能够满足不断增长的数据需求，同时降低成本和能量每比特。然而，光通信现在已经超过了现有单模技术的基本能力，这一趋势导致线路系统的迅速重复，最终将转化为更负担不起的宽带接入。为了满足未来的成本和能源节约需求，避免光纤容量即将耗尽，该奖学金提供了一条可扩展的光纤通信并行化路径，类似于使用多核并行计算的出现，以维持摩尔定律-一旦我们无法将单核微处理器中的晶体管数量增加一倍。新兴的空分复用技术（SDM）通过使用多模和多芯光纤提供用于在单根光纤上传输信道的附加手段，提供了更宽的信息管道。这位研究员已经证明，光纤的内部结构可以优化，以支持数千种不同的空间路径，每种路径都具有完整的传输容量。而且，至关重要的是，有主要的发射条件，允许在每个路径上的全传输速率与一小部分的均衡成本之前假设。这些发现提供了促进光纤通信网络如何操作的革命的潜力，以满足不断增长的流量需求，同时降低每比特的成本和能耗，实现无处不在和普遍的宽带接入。这项奖学金的更新设想如何实现芯片，多模SDM收发器的大规模集成，采用智能光学波束成形技术，由通用机器学习和原理性数字信号处理提供支持，高度空间多样化的光纤通道。此外，该奖学金的更新将启动一类新的低串扰多模光纤，使用椭圆芯和一类新的多模光纤放大器，具有自适应模式增益分布-从根本上打开新的理论和实验的可能性，到目前为止尚未探索的SDM系统。这些新的发展将推动多模SDM技术远远超出标准单模光纤基础设施，并将其带入行业就绪的发展阶段，以可持续的每比特成本和能量为未来光网络带来数十年的容量增长。

The aim of this fellowship is to develop disruptive approaches through theory and experiment to unlock the capacity of future information systems. To go beyond current optical fibre channel limits is arguably the greatest challenge faced by digital optical communications. To target it, the proposed research will combine techniques from information theory, coding, higher-dimensional modulation formats, digital signal processing, advanced photonic design, and machine learning to make possible breakthrough developments to ensure a robust communications infrastructure beyond tomorrow.Optical communications have to-date been able to fulfil the ever-growing data demand whilst simultaneously reducing cost and energy-per bit. However, optical communications have now exceeded the fundamental capacity of existing single-mode technology a trend leading to a rapid duplication of line systems which in time will translate in less affordable broadband access. To meet future demands with prospective cost and energy savings and avoid the impending exhaust of fibre capacity, this fellowship offers a scalable path towards parallelism in optical fibre communications resembling the advent of parallel computing using multiple cores to sustain Moore's law - once we were unable to double the number of transistors in a single-core microprocessor. The emergent technology of spatial division multiplexing (SDM) provides much wider conduits of information by offering additional means for transporting channels over one single fibre, using multi-mode and multi-core fibres. The fellow has shown that the internal structure of optical fibres can be optimised to support thousands of different spatial paths, each with full transmission capacity. And, critically, that there are principal launching conditions that allow for full transmission rate over each path with a small fraction of the equalisation cost assumed before. These discoveries offer the potential to foster a revolution in how optical fibre communications networks operate to meet the ever-increasing traffic demand with decreasing cost and energy consumption per bit, enabling ubiquitous and universal broadband access.This fellowship renewal envisages how to achieve chip-scale integration for multimode SDM transceivers packing intelligent optical beamforming powered by generalised machine learning and principled digital signal processing for highly spatially diverse fibre channels. Moreover, this fellowship renewal will initiate a new class of low crosstalk multi-mode fibres using elliptical cores and a new class of multimode optical fibre amplifiers with adaptive mode gain profile - opening fundamentally new theoretical and experimental possibilities up to now unexplored for SDM systems. These new developments will push multimode SDM technology far beyond that of the standard single-mode fibre infrastructure and bring it to an industry-ready development stage, unlocking decades of capacity growth in future optical networks with sustainable cost- and energy-per-bit.