Interplay of Modal Dispersion with Nonlinear Impairments on Mode Division Multiplexed Fibers

Space division multiplexed fibers represents a promising solution to the upcoming capacity crunch in single-mode fibers, but such fibers introduce new challenges due to the interactions among the propagating modes. In ideal optical fibers, birefringence does not exist and thus in a multi-mode fiber, random birefringence leads to spatial mode dispersion among the different spatial modes. This paper investigates the impact of spatial mode dispersion on optical fiber transmissions focusing on its interaction with the nonlinear interference arising during the signal propagation. The obtained results shows that modal dispersion can be beneficial in reducing the cross phase modulation in various optical transmission scenarios.