Simulation-based prediction of multimode fiber bandwidth for 10 Gb/s systems

The recent wide-spread deployment of gigabit, multimode, optical data links has led to the need for better design methodologies to both lower cost and improve performance. One of the most critical performance predictors for these systems is the bandwidth of the multimode fiber used in the link. We have demonstrated, through an integrated device/system simulation environment, that an empirical differential-mode delay-based method for predicting modal bandwidth can be accurate to within a few percent of the more rigorous index-based method.