TeraWave® ULL Single-Mode Optical Fiber is a 125 μm² large area, ultra low loss ITU-T G.654.B and ITU-T G.654.E fiber designed for terrestrial optical networks. The fiber is optimized for long haul transmission in the C- and L-bands (1530 nm – 1625 nm) at 100 Gb/s, 400 Gb/s and beyond. It features a core with an effective area 49% greater than G.652.D single-mode fiber to reduce nonlinear effects that limit the reach of G.652.D fiber. As a result, TeraWave ULL fiber supports greater distances between regeneration and amplification sites, helping to lower the overall cost of deploying coherent systems – now and in the future.
TeraWave ULL fiber features very good cabling properties, and an ultra low loss to provide superior optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) performance in optical links compared to low loss G.652.D fibers. The fiber takes the best aspects of highly engineered submarine fibers and combines them with cabling performance that is similar to conventional single-mode terrestrial fiber. These improvements allow system designers to increase distances between amplification and regeneration sites to help reduce overall system costs.
Operating optical systems beyond 100 G will require a significant improvement in the optical signal noise ratio (OSNR) for the end user to have regeneration distances comparable to those observed with G.652.D fiber at 100 Gb/s. Optimizing fiber attributes and amplification strategy is needed to increase the regeneration distances. The graph shows that in a 400 G system with TeraWave ULL fiber and Raman amplification regeneration distances comparable to 100 G systems using erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) with G.652.D fiber can be achieved.
TeraWave ULL fiber supports all of the major optical amplifier types including EDFA, Raman, and hybrid amplification to help system designers and service providers cost optimize performance for each network’s unique hut spacing and reach requirements.
This fiber supports longer un-regenerated reach for any coherent modulation format and can also operate with the same equipment used with conventional C- and L-band 10 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s systems. The ultra low loss and higher launch power limit of TeraWave ULL fiber can also be leveraged to increase hut spacing or supporting long distance unrepeatered links.