Stabilized plastic optical fiber interconnect without physical-contact fiber connection

We propose a novel graded-index plastic optical fiber (GI POF) link that enables stable high-speed data transmission without the requirement for conventional coupling techniques to reduce reflection at fiber connection, as typified by physical-contact (PC) fiber connection. The stability is attributed to the reduction in noise caused by reflection at the fiber connection through strong mode coupling in the fiber. The novel GI POF link will be advantageous for optical interconnects in household and automotive applications, in which PC connection is not ideal to apply. It will also be invaluable for multi-fiber interconnects based on multi-fiber connectors for data center applications, in which complete PC connections are difficult to obtain.