Beyond Exabit Optical Communications: towards transceiver integration

超越 Exabit 光通信：迈向收发器集成

• 批准号: MR/Y034260/1
• 负责人: Filipe Marques Ferreira
• 金额: $ 75.6万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FY034260%2F1
• 关键词: Beyond; Exabit; Optical; Communications; towards

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.

该奖学金的目的是通过理论和实验开发颠覆性方法，以释放未来信息系统的能力。突破当前光纤通道限制可以说是数字光通信面临的最大挑战。为此，拟议的研究将结合信息论、编码、高维调制格式、数字信号处理、先进光子设计和机器学习等技术，以实现可能的突破性发展，以确保明天的强大通信基础设施。光通信已经迄今为止，我们已经能够满足不断增长的数据需求，同时降低每比特的成本和能耗。然而，光通信现在已经超过了现有单模技术的基本容量，这一趋势导致线路系统的快速复制，最终将导致宽带接入的价格变得更加昂贵。为了通过预期的成本和能源节省来满足未来的需求，并避免光纤容量即将耗尽，该奖学金提供了一条实现光纤通信并行性的可扩展路径，类似于使用多核的并行计算的出现来维持摩尔定律——一旦我们无法单核微处理器中晶体管的数量增加了一倍。新兴的空分复用 (SDM) 技术通过使用多模和多芯光纤在一根光纤上提供额外的传输通道的方式，提供了更广泛的信息渠道。该研究员表明，光纤的内部结构可以优化，以支持数千个不同的空间路径，每个路径都具有完整的传输容量。而且，至关重要的是，存在一些主要的发射条件，允许每条路径上的全传输速率，而只需之前假设的均衡成本的一小部分。这些发现有可能推动光纤通信网络运行方式的一场革命，以满足不断增长的流量需求，同时降低每比特的成本和能源消耗，从而实现无处不在和普遍的宽带接入。该奖学金更新设想了如何实现芯片级多模 SDM 收发器的集成，包含由广义机器学习和原则性数字信号处理提供支持的智能光学波束成形，适用于高度空间多样化的光纤通道。此外，这项奖学金更新将启动使用椭圆芯的新型低串扰多模光纤和具有自适应模式增益分布的新型多模光纤放大器——为SDM系统开辟迄今为止尚未探索的全新理论和实验可能性。这些新进展将推动多模 SDM 技术远远超越标准单模光纤基础设施，并将其带入行业就绪的开发阶段，以可持续的每比特成本和能耗，释放未来光网络数十年的容量增长。