Ultrawide-band single-mode transmission performance in a low-loss photonic crystal fiber

We describe the ultrawide-band single-mode transmission performance of a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) in the 850 to 1550 nm wavelength range. We confirmed that the fabricated PCF achieves a single-mode operation over the 850 to 1550 nm wavelength range by measuring the mode-field diameter (MFD) and modal delay characteristics. The 10-Gb/s-based wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) signals with a total capacity of 190 Gb/s were successfully transmitted over a 5.2-km low-loss PCF utilizing the 850, 1310, and 1550 nm regions simultaneously. Our experimental results show that an endlessly single-mode PCF provides an ultrawide-band of more than 160 THz for future optical communication systems.