Coherent Multipath Interference in Bend-Insensitive Fibers

We present the first comprehensive study quantifying, both theoretically and experimentally, the impact of splice/connection losses on coherent multipath interference (MPI) experienced in bend-insensitive fibers (BIFs) deployed in fiber-to-the-home networks. To guarantee the relevance of our study with respect to system constraints, we systematically investigate the worst-case scenario, i.e., fibers under tests are 2 m long and purposely chosen to exhibit extreme cable cutoff wavelengths (close to the G.652.D upper limit of 1260 nm). We report good agreements between theoretical and experimental results and show that all-solid single-trench-assisted BIFs are highly tolerant to splice-induced MPI.