Microstructured Optical Fiber Technologies for Advanced Optical Network Applications

传输速度一直是电信网络承载语音、数据和视频应用的重要因素。然而，随着云计算、视频和无线长期演进（LTE）服务以及存储区域网络（SAN）应用等新应用在过去几年的出现，以及对未来5G网络的要求，传输速度和低延迟现在在信息和通信技术（ICT）领域的许多公司的活动中至关重要。信息通信技术公司目前面临的问题主要与传统光纤网络的信息传播速度有关。光纤网络中的延迟是由光纤本身、光放大器和色散补偿光纤以及光电器件产生的。由于目前光纤的实际设计，光波的传播速度远远小于自由空间波的传播速度，这主要是因为构成其核心的材料。目前解决这一问题的方法是多方面的，包括没有前向纠错（FEC）的转发器、拉曼放大器、基于光纤布拉格光栅（FBG）的色散补偿模块，以及先进的开关架构和分组光技术，甚至微波链路。然而，这些解决方案有局限性，不能完全解决问题。近年来，新型光纤波导的核心折射率（refs）大大降低。这些新型光纤结构在实际网络部署条件下的适用性尚未得到证实。拟议的项目将探索低延迟光纤技术。基于创新波导设计的微结构光纤确实提供了一些目前传统单模光纤无法实现的独特光学特性。该项目将包括评估不同的微结构光纤技术，目的是确定实现低延迟光链路的最有前途的方法。

Transmission speed has always been an important factor in telecom networks carrying voice, data and videoapplications. However, with the emergence of new applications such as cloud computing, video and wirelessLong Term Evolution (LTE) services and storage area network (SAN) applications in the last years, as well asthe requirements for future 5G networks, transmission speed and low latency are now crucial in many activitiesof companies involved in the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sector.The current problem faced by ICT companies is mainly related to the speed of information propagation inconventional fiber-optic networks. Latency in fiber-optic networks is generated by the optical fiber itself, theoptical amplifiers and dispersion compensating fibers, as well as the optoelectronic devices. Because of theactual design of the current optical fibers, the speed of propagation of light waves is much less than thepropagation speed of free space waves, mainly because of the material that constitutes its core. Currentapproaches to address this problem are multifold and include transponders without forward-error-correction(FEC), Raman amplifiers, dispersion compensating modules based on Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG), as well asadvanced switch architectures and packet-optical technologies or even microwave links. However, thesesolutions have limitations and do not fully address the problem. Progress has been made in the last few years inthe development of new fiber waveguides with much lower core refractive indices ?refs?. The applicability ofthese new fiber structures in real network deployment conditions has not yet been demonstrated.The proposed project will explore low latency fiber technologies. Microstructured optical fibers based oninnovative waveguide designs do offer some unique optical properties that are impossible to attain with currentconventional singlemode optical fibers. The project will consist in evaluating different microstructured fibertechnologies, with the objective to determine the most promising approaches for realizing low latency opticallinks.