Abstract

All-plastic optical-fiber (POF), short-distance (≤100 m) data links have attracted much attention recently (see, e.g., Refs. 1 and 2) because they may offer a low-cost alternative to conventional silica fiber for computer-interconnect applications. Until now, the convenient handling, splicing, and connectorizing properties of commercially available 1-mm-core-diameter, step-index, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) POF have been undermined by the assumption that < 1-MHz· km modal bandwidth is available. Recent work has shown,³ however, that the modal bandwidth may be increased by using a low numerical aperture (N.A.) launch condition. The remaining bandwidth limitation is then well approximated by a first-order low-pass filter characteristic and may be removed with a matched differentiator⁴ or compensated for by a speed-up network at the transmitter. Computer-data-link capacities in excess of 500 Mbit/s over the 100-m distances typical of this application are then theoretically possible without requiring elaborate source coding.

© 1993 Optical Society of America