396 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 37, NO.

2, JANUARY 15, 2019

Design of Multicore Fiber Having Upgradability

From Standard Single-Mode Fibers and
Its Application
Tomohiro Gonda , Katsunori Imamura, Masayoshi Tsukamoto , Kohei Kawasaki, Shinichi Arai,
Ryuichi Sugizaki , Member, IEEE, Shohei Beppu , Daiki Soma, Hidenori Takahashi , Member, IEEE,
and Takehiro Tsuritani, Member, IEEE

(Invited Paper)

Abstract—In this paper, multicore fiber (MCF), which is com- There are some reports concerning uncoupled MCFs with
patible with standard conventional single-mode fibers (SMFs), is a 125 µm cladding, including an 8-core fiber, which can be
summarized. Conventional SMF systems can be upgraded to space- used for O-band transmission [4], 4-core fiber, which is com-
division multiplexing systems by this MCF with migration scenario.
As applications of this, connectivity of this MCF and MCF cable patible with the ITU-T G.652 recommendation [5], [6] and the
with ultra-high-capacity is described. Transmission experiment us- 118.5 Tb/s transmission measuring over 316 km long using a
ing 400 Gb/s signals are confirmed with this MCF. 4-core fiber [7]. For practical use, it is also important that the
Index Terms—Fiber optics, multicore fiber, space division mul- MCF can be used to upgrade from existing standard SMF sys-
tiplexing, ultra-high-density cable. tems to high-capacity MCF systems. For this issue, we investi-
gated a fiber design with upgradability [8].
I. INTRODUCTION In this report, we summarize an uncoupled MCF with 125 µm
INCE Internet traffic has been increasing due to mobile of cladding, and we investigate the design of MCFs, their
S access system, cloud services, etc., the expansion of trans-
mission capacity is desired. Space division multiplexing (SDM)
characteristics, and upgradability. In section II, concept of fiber,
fiber design and characteristics of MCF is described. Connec-
using a multicore fiber (MCF) is a candidate to expand the tivity and cable using MCF is shown in sections III and IV.
transmission capacity over 2Pb/s [1]. Technologies including Applications for utilizing this MCF is summarized in section V.
few-mode fiber (FMF) can be applied to the MCF. With the This manuscript includes MCF itself, connectivity for MCF,
development of these MCFs, the capacity of the transmission MCF cable, and transmission results using this MCF. Using
system exceeds 10 Pb/s in a single fiber [2]. The coupled core these technique, installation of SDM can be started by proposed
MCF is also attractive to achieve a higher core density. Adop- step-by-step migration approach.
tion of coupled core MCF and Few mode MCF are effective.
But systems utilizing these MCF required Multiple Input Mul-
tiple Output (MIMO) [3]. For terrestrial transmission systems, II. FOUR-CORE MCF WITH A CENTER CORE
flexible network which does not fit for MIMO is required. For
utilizing in terrestrial network, we selected un-coupled MCF The critical idea is inserting an additional core at the center
technique. of the square lattice 4-core fiber to be connected to the conven-
tional single core fiber [9]. To avoid an increase in the crosstalk
Manuscript received October 16, 2018; revised December 6, 2018 and January from the new core at the center, a special design is needed that is
18, 2019; accepted January 20, 2019. Date of publication January 29, 2019; date heterogeneous core arrangement [10]. Fig. 1 shows an expected
of current version February 20, 2019. This work was supported in part by the migration scenario from an existing SMF system to an MCF
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan, and
in part by the Anritsu Corporation, Japan. (Corresponding author: Tomohiro system. In this scenario, we replace the SMF span to an MCF
Gonda.) span in a step-by-step manner. After completion of upgrade, four
T. Gonda, K. Imamura, M. Tsukamoto, K. Kawasaki, S. Arai, and outer core can be utilized and center core is not used for trans-
R. Sugizaki are with the Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd., Ichihara 290-8555,
Japan (e-mail:, [email protected]; katsunori.imamura@ mission systems because five core fan-out has not developed so
furukawaelectric.com; [email protected]; kohei. far. When effective five core fan-out would be developed, this
[email protected]; [email protected]; ryui fiber could be upgraded as real five core fiber.
[email protected]).
S. Beppu, D. Soma, H. Takahashi, and T. Tsuritani are with KDDI Re- As is well known, a fiber infrastructure in terrestrial optical
search, Inc., Saitama 356-8502, Japan (e-mail:, [email protected]; networks consists of concatenated SMF spans connected with
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]). fiber connectors or fiber splices. The proposed step-by-step mi-
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. gration allows for the cost-effective and easy upgrade of the
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JLT.2019.2895903 current SMF system to a high-capacity MCF system. When
0733-8724 © 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
GONDA et al.: DESIGN OF MCF HAVING UPGRADABILITY FROM STANDARD SMFS AND ITS APPLICATION 397

Fig. 2. Refractive index profile of outer cores.

Fig. 1. Migration scenario for upgrade to the SDM system.

Fig. 3. Excess loss at outer cores at λ = 1625 nm.

replacing all the SMF spans to MCF spans, we can use all the
cores of MCF for WDM transmission. for the center and outer cores, respectively, to meet the ITU-T
Our concept for utilizing this fiber is replacing cables installed G.657.A1.
in limited spaces. For minimize the suspended time of commu- When the core pitch between the center core and outer core
nication by replacing cables, time for removing and installing is set as Λ1 , the core pitch between the outer cores (Λ2 ) is
cables must be minimized. Before replacing, the transmission described as
√
line is assigned by many short sections. Replacing is done by Λ2 = 2Λ1 (1)
removing a cable at assigned section and re-installing a new
cable. Both ends of a newly installed cable are connected with for a square lattice of four core fibers with one center core. The
existing ones to restore to single core fiber line. Since this fiber Λ2 should be designed carefully not to increase the crosstalk
has a core at center and cladding diameter of this one is as same between the outer cores for the wavelength range used in the
as standard fibers, duration time for connection to conventional system. The cladding thickness CT is another important factor
SMF would be minimized. that should be considered to not increase the excess loss of the
We investigated the design of the MCF that meets these con- outer cores. The cladding thickness is denoted as
cepts above. A key design is to have a center core and com- CT = 62.5 − Λ1 (2)
patibility with all the cores of the standard SMF. Moreover,
regarding the point of cabling, since the ultra-high-density ca- The target value of XT less than -40 dB after 100 km trans-
ble is used on the SMF system to increase the core density in mission between the outer cores at 1550 nm and an excess loss
the cable, MCFs should have equivalent macro-bending loss of less than 0.001 dB/km at 1625 nm was to maintain a wide
properties (meet ITU-T G.657.A1 recommendation [11]) for transmission window opened for the entire O-L band.
ultra-high-density cables. We investigated an appropriate value of Λ1 using core with
To reduce the crosstalk (XT), we adopted a trench assisted in- refractive profile shown in fig. 2 and by setting the core diameter
dex profile for both the center core and outer cores, and we used 2a to 7.8 µm, the refractive index difference Δ+ to 0.35%, trench
heterogeneous cores for between the center and outer cores. The depth Δ- to -0.6%. Additionally, the ratios 2b/2a and d/2a were
cable cut-off wavelength (λcc) was set to be less than 1260 nm set to 1.8 and 0.87 respectively, wherein, 2b indicates the inner
for each core to maintain the single-mode properties through diameter of trench layer and d the width of trench.
the O-L band. The mode field diameters (MFDs) were set to For the excess loss, it can be found that Λ1 should be less than
9.0 µm and 8.6 µm for the center and outer cores, respec- 32 µm (Fig. 3). To suppress the XT, it is obvious that Λ1 should
tively. The macro-bending loss properties were also set to be be as large as possible (Fig. 4). To meet each requirement, Λ1
less than 0.03 dB/km and 0.05 dB/km (r = 10 mm @1550 nm) was designed to be 32 µm.
398 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 37, NO. 2, JANUARY 15, 2019

TABLE I
OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE 4-CORE FIBER WITH CENTER CORE

Fig. 4. XT between outer cores.

∗)
After 1 km transmission, R = 80 mm

Fig. 5. Cross-section of the 4-core fiber with a center core.

On the other hand, the effect of adopting a heterogeneous Fig. 6. SC connector type fan-out.
design between the outer and center cores were confirmed by
evaluating the Rpk (described as (3)) [12]. low. This will assure good transmission characteristics without
nef f o any signal distortion due to crosstalk.
Rpk = Λ1 (3)
|nef f c − nef f o |
III. CONNECTING TECHNOLOGY SUITABLE FOR MCF
At a radius larger than Rpk , the crosstalk can be drastically
A. SC-Connector Type MCF FI/FO
reduced. For the design with an effective index of center core
and outer core nef f c , nef f o of 1.44698, 1.44612 respectively, For the practical use of MCFs, the fan-out, which extracts
and Λ1 of 32 µm the parameter Rpk was determined to be 53.8 optical signals from the MCF to single-core fibers (SCFs), is es-
mm. This implies that crosstalk will indeed be suppressed in sential. Several types of fan-out are proposed [13]–[16]. Among
case of a winding radius larger than 60 mm. Based on these the technology for making devices, fiber type devices have mer-
considerations, the fiber design was optimized to realize good its for low and stable insertion loss due to containing no hetero-
optical properties through the O-L band considering the realiza- junction. Fiber bundle-type fan-out (FBF), which has merit of
tion of migration from the conventional single-core fiber system productivity, size, characteristics and SC connectors using for
to a multicore fiber system. the 125 µm 4-core fiber with a square lattice structure is reported
Based on these design investigations, we obtained a 4-core [17]. For the FBF, we utilized an etched fiber whose cladding
fiber with a center core. This fiber has core pitch between the diameter meets the core pitch of the MCF. Fig. 6 shows the ap-
center and outer cores (Λ1 ) of 31.7 µm and a core pitch between pearance of the SC connector type fan-out and MCF. Insertion
the outer cores (Λ2 ) of 44.8µm (Fig. 5). loss of this is less than 0.8 dB for each core at 1.31 µm and
The optical properties of this fiber are shown in Table I. Each 1.55 µm. Fiber used for FBF is generally designed to have the
of the optical properties, the cable cut-off wavelength, MFD, and same characteristics of MCF including MFD, in order to avoid
bending loss, satisfy the requirements for the ITU-T G.657.A1 loss increase induced by a mode field mismatch. Hence, contri-
recommendation, which we set as the target. The crosstalk was butions to the insertion loss of FBF arising from lateral offset
less than -60 dB after 1 km transmission between the outer cores of cores and excess loss in the ferrule need to be estimated. By
and between the center and outer cores, which were sufficiently comparison, insertion loss at 1.55 µm is slightly higher than
GONDA et al.: DESIGN OF MCF HAVING UPGRADABILITY FROM STANDARD SMFS AND ITS APPLICATION 399

Fig. 9. Structure of the rollable multicore ribbon fiber.

Fig. 7. Mini-MT type ferrule. two connecting parts: the MCF/FBF and the mini-MT/mini-
MT, which are less than 1.2 dB in all channels among O-band to
L-band at 1.31 µm and 1.55 µm. Also, crosstalk of entire con-
verter is less than -35dB for whole wavelength range.

IV. ULTRA-HIGH-DENSITY CABLE USING FOUR-CORE MCF

Data centers have been becoming increasingly important with
the growing demand for IoT (Internet of Things), cloud comput-
ing or streaming services. The construction of data centers and
the organization of its networks are an urgent necessity. Since
data centers transmit or receive enormous amounts of informa-
tion, the underground optical fiber cable installed between these
Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of mini-MT type ferrule.
centers needs to have an ultra-high fiber count of more than
1,000 fibers. As an index of density of fiber cables, we use core
density which is defined as core numbers included in the cable
that at 1.31 µm. In general, connection loss without excess loss divided by cross sectional area of the cable.
would be lower in the higher wavelength due to wavelength Until now, optical fiber cables with approximately 3,000
dependence of MFD. This study shows that insertion loss of fibers with core density of 3.8 have been reported [19]. However,
this FBF is composed mostly of excess loss in the ferrule. it is difficult to realize a fiber density greater than 5 fibers/mm2
even though conventional techniques are combined appropri-
B. MCF/Single-Core Fiber Converter ately at the same time.
To realize further high fiber densities in cables, we applied
In the future, applying MCFs to flexible networks requires a
the 125 µm 4-core MCFs for ultra-high-density cable, which
fan-out that has functions that extract optical signals from the
combine the rollable ribbon fiber (Fig. 9) and the close-packed
MCF to the SCFs. Furthermore, it is preferred that the SCFs
slot-less cable structure [20]. This realized a higher core density
be terminated by multi-fiber connectors with a small size. We
compared with conventional single-core fiber cables.
investigated and obtained a 4-core MCF/SCFs converter using
the mini MT-type fiber connector as a favorable connection
technology for the 125 µm 4-core fiber with a square lattice A. Structure of Ultra-High Density Optical Fiber Cable Using
MCF
for flexible networks. The MCF/single-core fiber converter en-
ables decreasing the effective size of systems. The structure of A rollable ribbon fiber is adopted in this development. Four
the 4-core MCF/SCF converter is combined with the SC-type single, multicore fibers are aligned in parallel, and the adjacent
connector MCF fan-out with a mini MT-type connector [18]. two fibers are adhered longitudinally at given intervals (Fig. 9)
The mini MT-type connector is approximately a quarter the size [20]. Since the ribbon form can be easily changed, it is possible
of the end face area of the conventional MT ferrule (Fig. 7,8) to install the ribbons at the highest level of density according to
and can simultaneously connect twelve fibers with an 80 µm the crevice geometry in the cable and can contribute to achieving
cladding with physically contact. The offset from designed po- a higher density, a smaller diameter and a reduced weight of the
sition of hole in mini-MT ferrule is 0.29 µm (average) with optical fiber cable. Moreover, since the rollable optical fiber
standard deviation of 0.07 µm. The four holes in the center of ribbon is restored to ribbon form when it is removed, the mass
mini-MT are used for this converter. These averaged offset and fusion splicing is possible, similar to the conventional 4-fiber
their standard deviation are less than 0.25 µm and less than ribbon. In addition, the ribbon fiber can be separated easily
0.05 µm, respectively. Measured connection loss between mini- into 4 single fibers for single-fiber connection by removing the
MT is 0.3 dB. This value is relatively smaller than estimated adhesive resin with a brush. We formulate a proper model of
value calculated by offset. Further trials would be needed for conduit line with a total length of 790 m, which consists of
both reducing connection loss and obtaining agreement between straight, bent and sloped sections to design a strength member.
measured and estimated values. A total insertion loss includes In this model, the pulling force during cable installation can
400 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 37, NO. 2, JANUARY 15, 2019

TABLE III
MECHANICAL AND WATER PROOF CHARACTERISTICS

Fig. 10. Structure of the ultra-high-density fiber cable using MCF.

TABLE IV
Fig. 11. Core density of the ultra-high-density fiber cable using MCF. TEMPERATURE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FIBER
TABLE II
OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FIBER

the reference. The transmission loss of the cable with multicore

be determined using the values of cable weight and frictional
fibers is almost equal to that of the single core fibers, which is
coefficient between the cable and conduit. The diameter of the
sufficiently low.
strength member can be obtained to control the cable strain to
2) Mechanical Characteristics: The results of several me-
be less than a certain value under the applied pulling force. The
chanical tests and waterproof testing are summarized in
cable structure is based on an aerial ultra-high-density optical
Table III. The tests for repeated bending, crushing, squeezing,
fiber cable [21]. A fiber bundle consists of 5 rollable ribbon
twisting, impact and tensile strength were performed with good
fibers spirally wrapped by an identifying color plastic tape. A
results. There were no issues concerning the waterproof char-
cable core consists of strands of 10 fiber bundles wrapped by the
acteristics.
tape with water absorbency. This extruded together with a black
3) Temperature Characteristics: Temperature cycling tests
polyolefin resin (Fig. 10) with a total of 200 fibers (equivalent
from -30°C to +70°C for 6 hours were performed on the fabri-
to 800 cores). Fig. 11 tells that the value of the core density
cated cable (Table IV). The maximum value of the loss change
of the cable with single core fibers are almost saturated by 5
was less than 0.1 dB/km, which is sufficiently small for use in
(cores/mm2 ). The fabricated cable is 11 mm in diameter and
the field. The condition is described in ref [22].
0.1 kg/m in density.
4) Core density: The results of the core density with single-
core and multicore (4-core) fibers are obtained through approx-
B. Characteristics of the Ultra-High-Density Cable Using the
imate calculations (Fig. 11). The core density with a multiple
125 µm 4-Core MCF of its core count can be simply achieved by using a multicore
1) Optical Characteristics: Table II shows the optical char- fiber with a diameter of 125 µm. The fabricated cable has a core
acteristics of the fabricated cable with multicore and single core density equivalent to 8.4 cores/mm2 , which is an unattainable
fibers, which have nearly the same optical characteristics for level using conventional cables with single-core fibers. This re-
GONDA et al.: DESIGN OF MCF HAVING UPGRADABILITY FROM STANDARD SMFS AND ITS APPLICATION 401

Fig. 12. Experimental setup for (a) 4-SDM transmission line and (b) transmission line with directly connected SMF and MCF.

sult also shows that the cable with a core density of more than
15 cores/mm2 can be realized if this technology can be applied
for 1000- or 2000-fiber cables.

V. EXPERIMENTS FOR THE 400-GB/S AND 1.6-TB/S SIGNALS

WITH 2-KM MCF TRANSMISSION
We show a single fiber with a 400-Gb/s transmission us-
ing 4 cores as another approach to the 400 GbE transmission,
which realizes higher spatial efficiency than parallel SMFs in
the 400 GbE-PSM4/DR4 (IEEE 802.3 bs). We also show the
possibility of step-by-step migration from an existing SMF
system to an MCF system by direct connection of the SMF
and MCF through conventional SC connectors. Furthermore, Fig. 13. BER vs. received power for the 100-Gb/s PAM4 signal in each core
1.6-Tb/s transmissions over the O-band are demonstrated by after 2-km transmission. Experimental setup in Fig. 12 (a) and (b) were used
for each outer core and center core transmission, respectively.
combining wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) with the
SDM. [23]
The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 12. In the O-band
transmitter, four distributed feedback lasers (DFBs) were multi- oscilloscope. After the offline processing, the BERs (bit error
plexed using a 4-ch LAN-WDM polarization maintaining mul- rates) were counted.
tiplexer (MUX) and modulated with an Anritsu’s 56-Gbaud Initially, we evaluated the single-channel transmission with-
4-level PAM electrical signal. The modulated signals were am- out WDM. Fig. 13 shows the BER characteristics of a sin-
plified and then de-correlated using decorrelation fibers with a gle wavelength (1300 nm) at 100 or 400-Gb/s (4-SDM x
relative delay of 2 ns. The transmission line consists of 2-km 100 -Gb/s) transmission using center (Fig. 12(b)) or outer 4 cores
of a 4-core fiber with a center core and a fan-in (FI) and fan-out (Fig. 12(a)) of the 2-km 4-core fiber with a center core. Since
(FO) with 4 ports corresponding to only outer 4 cores (Fig. 12(a)) the BERs of all cores were below the 7% FEC threshold of
to emulates the MCF transmission system after the SMF/MCF 3.8×10-3 [24], [25], a single wavelength and the single-fiber
migration as shown in Fig. 1 (3). The LAN-WDM signals were 100 or 400-Gb/s 2-km transmission without PSM4 have been
split into 4 paths with a relative delay of 40 ns for the core- demonstrated thanks to the low core-to-core crosstalk (XT) of
to-core decorrelation and fed into each port in the 4-port FI the FI/FO and MCF. This result also indicates the possibility
device, respectively. Here, the center core and outer cores can’t of step-by-step migration from an existing SMF system to an
be used simultaneously with the 4-port FI devices. The 2-km MCF system because the BER characteristics with or without
fiber was directly connected to the FI and FO using multicore SDM were almost same and the 100-Gb/s signal was success-
SC connectors at both edges. Another transmission line shown fully transmitted through directly connected transmission line
in Fig. 12(b) consists of a 2-km 4-core fiber with the center of SMF and MCF. Fig. 14 and 15 shows optical spectra and
core and patch codes of the conventional SMF connected with BERs of LAN-WDM-400Gb/s signals after 2-km transmitted
standard SC connectors to emulate the transmission system in in outer 4 cores at the maximum received power, respectively.
the middle of the SMF/MCF migration as shown in Fig. 1 (2). The maximum received power depends on the wavelength and
This scenario is used to demonstrate the feasibility of 100-Gb/s core due to the variation of insertion loss (IL), mainly at the 1x4
PAM4 transmission using the only center core within 5 cores coupler, delay lines and LAN-WDM MUX/DEMUX. There-
in the middle of the migration. In the receiver, the LAN-WDM fore, the measured BERs in Fig. 15 have the variations between
DEMUX was connected to an output port of the FO device, and cores. Since the BERs of all cores and wavelength were below
the measured channel was detected using a photo detector. The the 7% FEC threshold of 3.8x10-3 , we achieved an upgradable
detected signals were A/D converted at 160 GSample/s with an transmission capacity of 1.6 Tbit/s.
402 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 37, NO. 2, JANUARY 15, 2019

[7] T. Matsui et al., “118.5 Tbit/s transmission over 316 km-long multi-core
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Fig. 15. BERs of LAN-WDM signals after 2-km transmission using outer 4 [19] [Online]. 2016. Available: https://global-sei.com/company/press/2016/
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and fiber cable utilizing this MCF is realized. Transmission Eur. Conf. Opt. Commun., Gothenburg, Sweden, 2017, Paper Th2.A.2.
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transmission employing PAM4 signal and direct detection with 25Gbps
device,” Proc. Opt. Fiber Commun. Conf. Exhib., Los Angeles, CA, USA,
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in Proc. Opt. Fiber Commun. Conf. Exhib., Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2015, Tomohiro Gonda received the M.E. degree from the University of Electro-
Paper Th5C. Communications, Tokyo, Japan, in 2010.
[5] T. Matsui et al., “Design of 125 µm cladding multi-core fiber with full- He joined Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., in 2010 and has been engaged in
band compatibility to conventional single-mode fiber,” in Proc. Eur. Conf. research and development and production engineering of optical fibers.
Opt. Commun., Valencia, Spain, 2015, Paper We.1.4.5. Mr. Gonda is currently a member of the Institute of Electronics, Informa-
[6] ITU, “Characteristics of a single-mode optical fibre and cable,” Recom- tion and Communication Engineers (IEICE). He was the recipient of Young
mendation ITU-T G.652, 2016. Researcher’s Award from the IEICE in 2016.
GONDA et al.: DESIGN OF MCF HAVING UPGRADABILITY FROM STANDARD SMFS AND ITS APPLICATION 403

Katsunori Imamura received the M.E. degree from the University of Tokyo, Shohei Beppu received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in communication engineer-
Tokyo, Japan, in 2002. ing from Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan, in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
He joined Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., Chiba, Japan, in 2002, and had been He joined KDDI Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, in 2015. Since 2016, he has been
mainly investigating new types of transmission fibers as a Research Engineer. working at KDDI R&D Laboratories, Inc. (currently KDDI Research, Inc.). His
He is currently a member of the Optical Fiber & Cable Products Division of current research interests include signal processing for coherent optical commu-
Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. nication systems and space-division-multiplexed optical transmission systems.
Mr. Imamura is a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Mr. Beppu was the recipient of the Outstanding Student Paper Award of OFC
Communication Engineers (IEICE). He was the recipient of the Outstanding 2014 and the Young Researcher’s Award of the IEICE in 2015.
Poster Paper Award of International Cable Connectivity Symposium in 2013
and Young Researcher’s Award from the IEICE in 2008.

Daiki Soma received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in information science and
technology from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, in 2010 and 2012,
Masayoshi Tsukamoto received the M.E. degree from the Yamaguchi Univer- respectively.
sity, Yamaguchi, Japan, in 2000. He joined KDDI Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, in 2012. Since 2013, he has
He joined Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. in 2000. He is currently a Manager been working at KDDI R&D Laboratories, Inc. (currently KDDI Research, Inc.)
of the Fiber Sensing and Connectivity Section, Telecommunications & Energy and has been engaged in research on space-division-multiplexed optical fiber
Laboratories. transmission systems.
Mr. Tsukamoto was the recipient of the Outstanding Poster Paper Award of Mr. Soma was the recipient of the Institute of Electronics, Information and
International Cable Connectivity Symposium in 2006 and 2015. Communication Engineers (IEICE) Communications Society OCS Young Re-
searcher’s Award in 2017 and the Young Researcher’s Award of the IEICE in
2018.

Kohei Kawasaki received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in applied chemistry from
Chiba University, Chiba, Japan, in 2011 and 2013, respectively. Hidenori Takahashi (M’08) received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in electronic
He joined Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., in 2013, where he has been engaged in engineering from the Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, in 1998 and 2000,
research and development of the Optical Transmission Line Section, Telecom- respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, in
munications & Energy Laboratories. 2012.
Mr. Kawasaki is a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information and He joined KDD R&D Laboratories, Inc. (currently KDDI Research, Inc.) in
Communication Engineers. 2000. He was involved in the research and development on silica-based planar
waveguide devices. From 2006 to 2007, he was a Visiting Researcher and a
Fellow of Advanced Study Program of Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, MA, USA. Since 2007, he has been working in highly spectrally
efficient transmission systems with digital coherent optical OFDM technologies
and high capacity systems using multicore fibers. Since late 2012, he has been
a member of the Submarine Cable Planning and Engineering Section of KDDI
Corporation. Since 2016, he has been a member of Photonic Transport Network
Shinichi Arai received the B.E. degree from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Laboratory of KDDI Research, Inc., working on the future high-capacity and
Tokyo, Japan, in 1991. long-distance optical fiber transmission systems.
He joined Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., where he has been engaged in re- Dr. Takahashi was the recipient of the Best Paper Award from the 7th
search and development of optical fibers. He is currently a Manager of the Fiber International Conference on Optical Internet (COIN2008).
Optics Section, Telecommunication and Energy Laboratories.
Mr. Arai is a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Com-
munication Engineers.

Takehiro Tsuritani (M’15) received the M.E. and Ph.D. degrees in electron-
ics engineering from Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan, in 1997 and 2006,
respectively.
He joined Kokusai Denshin Denwa (KDD) Company, Ltd. (currently KDDI
Corporation), Tokyo, Japan, in 1997. Since 1998, he has been working at their
Ryuichi Sugizaki (M’15) received the B.E. degree from Chiba Institute of Research and Development Laboratories (currently KDDI Research, Inc.) and
Technology, Chiba, Japan, in 1990. has been engaged in research on high-capacity, long-haul, wavelength-division
He joined Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., in 1990, where he has been engaged multiplexing transmission systems and dynamic photonic networking. He is
in research and development of optical fibers. He is currently a specialist for the currently a Senior Manager of the Photonic Transport Network Laboratory with
telecommunication and energy laboratories. KDDI R&D Laboratories Inc.
Mr. Sugizaki is a senior member of the Institute of Electronics, Information Dr. Tsuritani is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electronics, Information
and Communication Engineers. He was the recipient of the Outstanding Poster and Communication Engineers. He was the recipient of the Best Paper Award
Paper Award of International Cable Connectivity Symposium in 2017. of OECC 2000.