The influence of mode coupling on three-channel spatial division multiplexing capability in multimode graded index plastic optical fibers is investigated by solving the power flow equation. Our numerical results show that mode coupling significantly limits the fiber length at which the spatial division multiplexing can be realized with a minimal crosstalk between three neighbor spatial optical channels. Three spatial channels in the multimode graded index plastic optical fiber can be employed with a minimal crosstalk up to the fiber length of 3.5 m, which is about 12.5% of the coupling length (fiber length where equilibrium mode distribution is achieved). Such characterization of multimode graded index plastic optical fibers should be considered in designing an optical fiber transmission system for space division multiplexing, particularly for small office networking.

中文翻译：

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模耦合对多模渐变折射率塑料光纤中三个空间复用通道的影响

通过求解潮流方程，研究了模式耦合对多模渐变折射率塑料光纤中三通道空分复用能力的影响。我们的数值结果表明，模式耦合显着限制了光纤长度，在该长度下可以以三个相邻空间光信道之间的最小串扰实现空分复用。可以使用多模渐变折射率塑料光纤中的三个空间通道，串扰最小，直至3.5 m的光纤长度，大约是耦合长度（达到平衡模分布的光纤长度）的12.5％。在设计用于空分复用的光纤传输系统时，应考虑多模渐变折射率塑料光纤的这种特性，