The pervasive digital economy, fueled by developments in datacenter networking and cloud/edge computing, relies ever increasingly on the implementation of short- to metro-range high-capacity, low-latency optical communication links. In this paper, it is demonstrated that the low spectrally flat chromatic dispersion and ultralow nonlinearity possible in hollow-core fibers (HCFs) compared to conventional solid-core fibers offer significant potential for the transmission of intensity-modulation and direct-detection (IM-DD) signals over 100-km-scale distances. Specifically, the longest HCF-only IM-DD wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) C-band transmission experiments (>100km) without chromatic dispersion compensation to date are reported, achieving reach improvements of approximately 5 times and 2 times compared to using standard single-mode fiber and non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber, respectively, in the same experimental recirculating loop set-up. For >100-km transmission, a significant >150-µs latency reduction can be obtained using HCF. These results, in combination with recent progress in loss reduction in HCFs, indicate that such fibers present a promising route to the realization of simple, cost-effective, high-capacity, ultra-low-latency IM-DD WDM transmission links with the potential to revolutionize optical networks in the years to come.

中文翻译：

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空心光纤中超过 100 公里距离的低延迟 WDM 强度调制和直接检测传输

在数据中心网络和云/边缘计算发展的推动下，无处不在的数字经济越来越依赖于短距离到城域距离的高容量、低延迟光通信链路的实施。在本文中，证明了与传统实芯光纤相比，空芯光纤 (HCF) 中可能具有的低光谱平坦色散和超低非线性为强度调制和直接检测 (IM- DD) 信号超过 100 公里的距离。具体而言，报告了迄今为止最长的仅 HCF IM-DD 波分复用 (WDM) C 波段传输实验（> 100km），没有色散补偿，在相同的实验再循环回路设置中，与使用标准单模光纤和非零色散位移光纤相比，分别实现了大约 5 倍和 2 倍的范围改进。对于 >100 公里的传输，使用 HCF 可以显着减少 >150 微秒的延迟。这些结果与 HCF 降低损耗的最新进展相结合，表明此类光纤为实现简单、经济、高容量、超低延迟的 IM-DD WDM 传输链路提供了一条有前景的途径，具有潜在的在未来几年彻底改变光网络。