Development of broadband optical frequency resource over 8.4 THz in 1.0-μm waveband for photonic transport systems

Continually expanding demand for greater photonic network capacities has created a need for the use of alternative wavebands and development of methods to strengthen transmission capacities. Photonic transport systems in the C band (1530-1565 nm, 4.3-THz bandwidth) and L band (1565-1625 nm, 7.1-THz bandwidth) have been extensively employed in conventional networks. We recently focused on use of a novel wavelength band such as 1.0-μm (thousand band: T band) together with the conventional C and L bands for enhancing usable optical frequency resources in future photonic networks employing wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). Therefore, here, we develop an ultra-broadband photonic transport system in the T band to create novel optical frequency resources in that waveband. In the proposed system, a holey fiber (HF) transmission line has been developed that is capable of ultra-broadband data transmission. In this study, we demonstrated ultra-broadband, 10-Gbps, error-free operation in a T-band photonic transport system using a wavelength tunable light source and an HF transmission line (typically >3.3 km). We successfully developed ultra-broadband transmission capability beyond the 8.4-THz bandwidth (1037-1068 nm), from usable optical frequency resources in the T band. In this band we also successfully demonstrate a polarization division multiplexing (PDM) photonic transport system for achieving efficient use of optical frequency resources. To construct the photonic network system of the future, we believe the technologies of the demonstrated T-band photonic transport systems using the HF transmission line represent a pioneering breakthrough in the use of ultra-broadband optical frequency resources.