Hyperfine WDM Sets Record in Multimode Fiber Test

Columbia, Md., April 25 - Essex Corp. and The University of Essex, in England, said they used hyperfine wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology in a multimode fiber test and set a world record of 1.2 Tb/s throughput over 3 km of conventional graded-index multimode fiber.

The university demonstrated that the hyperfine WDM filter with 6.25-GHz channel spacing transmitted OC-48 data with good "eye" diagrams on 12 channels across each 100-GHz band of a 40-channel arrayed waveguide on the ITU grid. This hyperfine WDM device was also used at the launch end of the university's multimode fiber experiments without adjacent channel interference.

"Essex Corp. has developed an innovative and low-cost WDM technology that makes narrow channel spacing feasible," said Stuart Walker of the university's Department of Electronic Systems.