Compact three-core fibers with ultra-low differential group delays for broadband mode-division multiplexing

An approximate explicit condition for the achievement of zero differential group delay (DGD) in a homogeneous multicore fiber (MCF) is presented and verified numerically for a step-index three-core fiber. This condition is explored for the study of compact three-core fibers with low DGDs. To achieve an ultra-low DGD in the C-band, a three-core fiber with a central refractive-index dip in each core is proposed and analyzed in detail. A specific design with three touching cores and a core-cladding index difference of 0.3% yields a maximum DGD smaller than 3.2 ps/km in the C-band. The fiber is suitable for broadband mode-division multiplexing applications and the design approach could be applied to MCFs with more cores.