In recent years, measuring biomagnetic fields in the Earth’s field by differential measurements of scalar-mode OPMs have been actively attempted. In this study, the sensitivity of the scalar-mode OPMs under the geomagnetic environment in the laboratory was studied by numerical simulation. Although the noise level of the scalar-mode OPM in the laboratory environment was calculated to be 104 pT/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, the noise levels using the first-order and the second-order differential configurations were found to be 529 fT/cm/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ and 17.2 fT/cm2/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, respectively. This result indicated that scalar-mode OPMs can measure very weak magnetic fields such as MEG without high-performance magnetic shield roomns. We also studied the operating conditions by varying repetition frequency and temperature. We found that scalar-mode OPMs have an upper limit of repetition frequency and temperature, and that the repetition frequency should be set below 4 kHz and the temperature should be set below 120°C.

Direct-current biased optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM) converts bipolar OFDM signals into unipolar non-negative signals by introducing a high DC bias, which satisfies the requirement that the signal transmitted by intensity modulated/direct detection (IM/DD) must be positive. However, the high DC bias results in low power efficiency of DCO-OFDM. An adaptively biased optical OFDM was proposed, which could be designed with different biases according to the signal amplitude to improve power efficiency in this letter. The adaptive bias does not need to be taken off deliberately at the receiver, and the interference caused by the adaptive bias will only be placed on the reserved subcarriers, which will not affect the effective information. Moreover, the proposed OFDM uses Hartley transform instead of Fourier transform used in conventional optical OFDM, which makes this OFDM have low computational complexity and high spectral efficiency. The simulation results show that the normalized optical bit energy to noise power ratio (Eb(opt)/N0) required by the proposed OFDM at the bit error rate (BER) of 10-3 is, on average, 7.5 dB and 3.4 dB lower than that of DCO-OFDM and superimposed asymmetrically clipped optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM), respectively.

An optical mode multiplexer was newly designed and fabricated using LiNbO3 waveguides. The multiplexer consists of an asymmetric directional coupler capable of achieving the phase-matching condition by the voltage adjustment. The mode conversion efficiency between TM0 and TM1 modes was quantitatively measured to be 0.86 at maximum.

An efficient optical power splitter constructed by a metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic waveguide with a resonator structure has been analyzed. The method of solution is the finite difference time domain (FD-TD) method with the piecewise linear recursive convolution (PLRC) method. The resonator structure consists of input/output waveguides and a narrow waveguide with a T-junction. The power splitter with the resonator structure is expressed by an equivalent transmission-line circuit. We can find that the transmittance and reflectance calculated by the FD-TD method and the equivalent circuit are matched when the difference in width between the input/output waveguides and the narrow waveguide is small. It is also shown that the transmission wavelength can be adjusted by changing the narrow waveguide lengths that satisfy the impedance matching condition in the equivalent circuit.

Wide deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) is inducing exponentially growing energy consumption. Traditional digital platforms are becoming difficult to fulfill such ever-growing demands on energy efficiency as well as computing latency, which necessitates the development of high efficiency analog hardware platforms for AI. Recently, optical and electrooptic hybrid computing is reactivated as a promising analog hardware alternative because it can accelerate the information processing in an energy-efficient way. Integrated photonic circuits offer such an analog hardware solution for implementing photonic AI and machine learning. For this purpose, we proposed a photonic analog of support vector machine and experimentally demonstrated low-latency and low-energy classification computing, which evidences the latency and energy advantages of optical analog computing over traditional digital computing. We also proposed an electrooptic Hopfield network for classifying and recognizing time-series data. This paper will review our work on implementing classification computing and Hopfield network by leveraging silicon photonic circuits.

In this paper, we investigated the overfitting characteristics of nonlinear equalizers based on an artificial neural network (ANN) and the Volterra series transfer function (VSTF), which were designed to compensate for optical nonlinear waveform distortion in optical fiber communication systems. Linear waveform distortion caused by, e.g., chromatic dispersion (CD) is commonly compensated by linear equalizers using digital signal processing (DSP) in digital coherent receivers. However, mitigation of nonlinear waveform distortion is considered to be one of the next important issues. An ANN-based nonlinear equalizer is one possible candidate for solving this problem. However, the risk of overfitting of ANNs is one obstacle in using the technology in practical applications. We evaluated and compared the overfitting of ANN- and conventional VSTF-based nonlinear equalizers used to compensate for optical nonlinear distortion. The equalizers were trained on repeated random bit sequences (RRBSs), while varying the length of the bit sequences. When the number of hidden-layer units of the ANN was as large as 100 or 1000, the overfitting characteristics were comparable to those of the VSTF. However, when the number of hidden-layer units was 10, which is usually enough to compensate for optical nonlinear distortion, the overfitting was weaker than that of the VSTF. Furthermore, we confirmed that even commonly used finite impulse response (FIR) filters showed overfitting to the RRBS when the length of the RRBS was equal to or shorter than the length of the tapped delay line of the filters. Conversely, when the RRBS used for the training was sufficiently longer than the tapped delay line, the overfitting could be suppressed, even when using an ANN-based nonlinear equalizer with 10 hidden-layer units.

In this paper, we investigate the evolution of an optical network architecture and discuss the future direction of research on optical network design and control. We review existing research on optical network design and control and present some open challenges. One of the important open challenges lies in multilayer resource optimization including IT and optical network resources. We propose an adaptive joint optimization method of IT resources and optical spectrum under time-varying traffic demand in optical networks while avoiding an increase in operation cost. We formulate the problem as mixed integer linear programming and then quantitatively evaluate the trade-off relationship between the optimality of reconfiguration and operation cost. We demonstrate that we can achieve sufficient network performance through the adaptive joint optimization while suppressing an increase in operation cost.

The novel optical path routing architecture named flexible waveband routing networks is reviewed in this paper. The nodes adopt a two-stage path routing scheme where wavelength selective switches (WSSs) bundle optical paths and form a small number of path groups and then optical switches without wavelength selectivity route these groups to desired outputs. Substantial hardware scale reduction can be achieved as the scheme enables us to use small scale WSSs, and even more, share a WSS by multiple input cores/fibers through the use of spatially-joint-switching. Furthermore, path groups distributed over multiple bands can be switched by these optical switches and thus the adaptation to multi-band transmission is straightforward. Network-wide numerical simulations and transmission experiments that assume multi-band transmission demonstrate the validity of flexible waveband routing.

To cope with the drastic increase in traffic, space division multiplexing elastic optical networks (SDM-EONs) have been investigated. In multicore fiber environments that realize SDM-EONs, crosstalk (XT) occurs between optical paths transmitted in the same frequency slots of adjacent cores, and the quality of the optical paths is degraded by the mutual influence of XT. To solve this problem, we propose a core and spectrum assignment method that introduces the concept of prohibited frequency slots to protect the degraded optical paths. First-fit-based spectrum resource allocation algorithms, including our previous study, have the problem that only some frequency slots are used at low loads, and XT occurs even though sufficient frequency slots are available. In this study, we propose a core and spectrum assignment method that introduces the concepts of “adjacency criterion” and “XT budget” to suppress XT at low and middle loads without worsening the path blocking rate at high loads. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of the path blocking rate using computer simulations.

We have developed an all-optical fiber link antenna measurement system for a millimeter wave 5th generation mobile communication frequency band around 28 GHz. Our developed system consists of an optical fiber link an electrical signal transmission system, an antenna-coupled-electrode electric-field (EO) sensor system for 28GHz-band as an electrical signal receiving system, and a 6-axis vertically articulated robot with an arm length of 1m. Our developed optical fiber link electrical signal transmission system can transmit the electrical signal of more than 40GHz with more than -30dBm output level. Our developed EO sensor can receive the electrical signal from 27GHz to 30GHz. In addition, we have estimated a far field antenna factor of the EO sensor system for the 28GHz-band using an amplitude center modified antenna factor estimation equation. The estimated far field antenna factor of the sensor system is 83.2dB/m at 28GHz.

Physical contact (PC) optical connectors realize long-term stability by maintaining contact with the optical fiber even during temperature fluctuations caused by the microscopic displacement of the ferrule endface. With multicore fiber (MCF) connectors, stable PC connection conditions need to be newly investigated because MCFs have cores other than at the center. In this work, we investigated the microscopic displacement of connected ferrule endfaces using the finite element method (FEM). As a result, by using MCF connectors with an apex offset, we found that the allowable fiber undercut where all the cores make contact is slightly smaller than that of single-mode fiber (SMF) connectors. Therefore, we propose a new equation for determining the allowable fiber undercut of MCF connectors. We also fabricated MCF connectors with an allowable fiber undercut and confirmed their reliability using the composite temperature/humidity cyclic test.

This paper summarizes recent reports on the internet's energy consumption and the internet's benefits on climate actions. It discusses energy-efficiency and the need for a common standard for evaluating the climate impact of future communication technologies and suggests a model that can be adapted to different internet applications such as streaming, online reading and downloading. The two main approaches today are based on how much data is transmitted or how much time the data is under way. The paper concludes that there is a need for a standardized method to estimate energy consumption and CO2 emission related to internet services. This standard should include a method for energy-optimizing future networks, where every Wh will be scrutinized.

Various optical fiber connectors have been developed during the 40 years since optical fiber communications systems were first put into practical use. This paper describes the key technologies for optical connectors and recent technical issues.

We have proposed autonomous network diagnosis platform for operation of future large capacity and virtualized network, including 5G and beyond 5G services. As for the one candidate of information collection and analyzing function blocks in the platform, we proposed novel optical sensing techniques that utilized tapped raw signal data acquired from digital coherent optical receivers. The raw signal data is captured before various digital signal processing for demodulation. Therefore, it contains various waveform deformation and/or noise as it experiences through transmission fibers. In this paper, we examined to detect two possible failures in transmission lines including fiber bending and optical filter shift by analyzing the above-mentioned raw signal data with the help of machine learning. For the purpose, we have implemented Docker container applications in WhiteBox Cassini to acquire real-time raw signal data. We generated CNN model for the detections in off-line processing and used them for real-time detections. We have confirmed successful detection of optical fiber bend and/or optical filter shift in real-time with high accuracy. Also, we evaluated their tolerance against ASE noise and invented novel approach to improve detection accuracy. In addition to that, we succeeded to detect them even in the situation of simultaneous occurrence of those failures.

Quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) formats are deployed in inter-data center networks where high transmission capacity and spectral efficiency are required. However, in intra-data center networks, a four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) format is deployed to satisfy the requirements for a simple and low-cost transceiver configuration. For the seamless and effective connection of such heterogeneous networks without an optical-electrical-optical conversion, an all-optical modulation format conversion technique is required. In this paper, we propose all-optical PAM4 to QPSK and 16QAM modulation format conversions using silicon-rich nitride waveguides. The successful conversions from 50-Gbps-class PAM4 signals to 50-Gbps-class QPSK and 100-Gbps-class 16QAM signals are demonstrated via numerical simulations.

We present our data-collection and deep neural network (DNN)-training scheme for extracting the optical status from signals received by digital coherent optical receivers in fiber-optic networks. The DNN is trained with unlabeled datasets across multiple administrative network domains by combining federated learning and unsupervised learning. The scheme allows network administrators to train a common DNN-based encoder that extracts optical status in their networks without revealing their private datasets. An early-stage proof of concept was numerically demonstrated by simulation by estimating the optical signal-to-noise ratio and modulation format with 64-GBd 16QAM and quadrature phase-shift keying signals.

Multi-band WDM transmission beyond the C+L-band is a promising technology for achieving larger capacity transmission by a limited number of installed fibers. In addition to the C- and L-band, we can expect to use the S-band as the next band. Although the development of optical components for new bands, particularly transceivers, entails resource dispersion, which is one of the barriers to the realization of multi-band systems, wavelength conversion by transparent all-optical signal processing enables new wavelength bandtransmission using existing components. Therefore, we proposed a transmission system including a new wavelength band such as the S-band and made it possible to use a transceiver for the existing band by performing the whole-band wavelength conversion without using a transceiver for the new band. As a preliminary verification to demonstrate multi-band WDM transmission including S-band, we investigated the application of a novel wavelength converter between C-band and S-band, which consists of periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide, to the proposed system. We first characterized the conversion efficiency and noise figure of the wavelength converter and estimated the transmission performance of the system through the wavelength converter. Using the evaluated wavelength converters and test signals of 64 channels arranged in the C-band at 75-GHz intervals, we constructed an experimental setup for S-band transmission through an 80-km standard single-mode fiber. We then demonstrated error-free transmission of real-time 400-Gb/s DP-16QAM signals after forward error correction decoding. From the experimental results, it was clarified that the wavelength converter which realizes the uniform lossless conversion covering the whole C-band effectively achieves the S-band WDM transmission, and it was verified that the capacity improvement of the multi-band WDM system including the S-band can be expected by applying it in combination with the C+L-band WDM system.

This paper presents a compact fully-differential distributed amplifier using a coupled inductor. Differential distributed amplifiers are widely required in optical communication systems. Most of the distributed amplifiers reported in the past are single-ended or pseudo-differential topologies. In addition, the differential distributed amplifiers require many inductors, which increases the silicon cost. In this study, we use differentially coupled inductors to reduce the chip area to less than half and eliminate the difficulties in layout design. The challenge in using coupled inductors is the capacitive parasitic coupling that degrades the flatness of frequency response. To address this challenge, the odd-mode image parameters of a differential artificial transmission line are derived using a simple loss-less model. Based on the analytical results, we optimize the dimensions of the inductor with the gradient descent algorithm to achieve accurate impedance matching and phase matching. The amplifier was fabricated in 0.18-µm CMOS technology. The core area of the amplifier is 0.27 mm2, which is 57% smaller than the previous work. Besides, we demonstrated a small group delay variation of ±2.7 ps thanks to the optimization. the amplifier successfully performed 30-Gbps NRZ and PAM4 transmissions with superior jitter performance. The proposed technique will promote the high-density integration of differential traveling wave devices.

We evaluated the energy efficiency per 1-bit transmission of an optical light source on InP substrate to achieve optical interconnection. A semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) assisted extended reach EADFB laser (AXEL) was utilized as the optical light source to enhance the energy efficiency compared to the conventional electro-absorption modulator integrated with a DFB laser (EML). The AXEL has frequency bandwidth extendibility for operation of over 100Gbit/s, which is difficult when using a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) without an equalizer. By designing the AXEL for low power consumption, we were able to achieve 64-Gbit/s, 1.0pJ/bit and 128-Gbit/s, 1.5pJ/bit operation at 50°C with the transmitter dispersion and eye closure quaternary of 1.1dB.

Indoor free space optical (FSO) communication technology that provides high-speed connectivity to edge users is expected to be introduced in the near future mobile communication system, where the silicon photonics solid-state beam scanning device is a promising tool because of its low cost, long-term reliability, and other beneficial properties. However, the current two-dimensional beam scanning devices using grating coupler arrays have difficulty in increasing the transmission capacity because of bandwidth regulation. To solve the problem, we have introduced a broadband surface optical coupler, “elephant coupler,” which has great potential for combining wavelength and spatial division multiplexing technologies into the beam scanning device, as an alternative to grating couplers. The prototype port-selective silicon beam scanning device fabricated using a 300 mm CMOS pilot line achieved broadband optical beam emission with a 1 dB-loss bandwidth of 40 nm and demonstrated beam scanning using an imaging lens. The device has also exhibited free-space signal transmission of non-return-to-zero on-off-keying signals at 10 Gbps over a wide wavelength range of 60 nm. In this paper, we present an overview of the developed beam scanning device. Furthermore, the theoretical design guidelines for indoor mobile FSO communication are discussed.