Enabling Technologies for Optical Data Center Networks: Spatial Division Multiplexing
Journal article, 2020

With the continuously growing popularity of cloud services, the traffic volume inside the data centers is dramatically increasing. As a result, a scalable and efficient infrastructure for data center networks (DCNs) is required. The current optical DCNs using either individual fibers or fiber ribbons are costly, bulky, hard to manage, and not scalable. Spatial division multiplexing (SDM) based on multicore or multimode (few-mode) fibers is recognized as a promising technology to increase the spatial efficiency for optical DCNs, which opens a new way towards high capacity and scalability. This tutorial provides an overview of the components, transmission options, and interconnect architectures for SDM-based DCNs, as well as potential technical challenges and future directions. It also covers the co-existence of SDM and other multiplexing techniques, such as wavelength-division multiplexing and flexible spectrum multiplexing, in optical DCNs.

resource allocation

network architecture

multicore fiber

fiber-optical communication

multiplexing and demultiplexing

Few-mode fiber

spatial division multiplexing

switching

optical data center networks

Author

L Zhang

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Zhejiang University

Jiajia Chen

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks

Erik Agrell

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks

Rui Lin

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks

Lena Wosinska

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks

Journal of Lightwave Technology

0733-8724 (ISSN) 1558-2213 (eISSN)

Vol. 38 1 18-30 8844839

Subject Categories

Telecommunications

Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics

Condensed Matter Physics

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2019.2941765

More information

Latest update

4/5/2022 6