Characterization of distributed mode crosstalk in few-mode fiber links with low MIMO complexity

We theoretically model and numerically analyze the linear behavior of distributed mode crosstalk in a step-index weakly-coupled 7-mode fiber. This fiber is assumed to be used for one-polarization uncoupled mode-division multiplexing (MDM) systems with: (1) sparse MIMO equalizers which are performed over only degenerate LP modes, or (2) one single differential mode delay-independent MIMO equalizer which is performed over all non-degenerate LP modes. For the above two low-complexity MIMO configuration schemes, the impacts of distributed mode coupling on the multi-path interference-dependent achievable distance and system quality are empirically evaluated, through the numerical simulations for uncoupled MDM transmissions of a single-channel 28 GBaud QPSK signal over the fiber.