Impact of mode coupling on the mode-dependent loss tolerance in few-mode fiber transmission.

Spatial-division multiplexing in the form of few-mode fibers has captured the attention of researchers since it is an attractive approach to significantly increase the channel capacity. However, the optical components employed in such systems introduce mode-dependent loss or gain (MDL) due to manufacturing imperfections, leading to significant system impairments. In this work the impact of MDL from optical amplifiers in few-mode fibers with either weak or strong mode coupling is analyzed for a 3x136-Gbit/s DP-QPSK mode-division multiplexed transmission system. It is shown that strong mode coupling reduces the impact of MDL in a similar manner as that polarization-dependent loss is reduced in single mode fibers by polarization-mode dispersion.