Simultaneous Data and Power Transmission Using a Pure-Silica Inner-Cladding Double-Clad Fiber

We present a power-over-fiber (PWoF) that transmits data and power simultaneously using an optical fiber. Although the ability to deliver both high-capacity data and high-power transmission is attractive for PWoFs, achieving both of these with conventional fibers imposes limitations due to the core structure. To overcome this challenge, we proposed a PWoF using double-clad fibers (DCFs) with a dual-core structure composed of a small center core surrounded by a large inner cladding, and demonstrated its feasibility. However, DCFs exhibit significant transmission loss owing to the unique loss characteristics of the dual-core structure, which limits the transmission length and usable feed light wavelengths for power delivery. In this study, we propose a PWoF using pure-silica inner-cladding DCFs (PSIC-DCFs), which employ pure-silica material for the inner cladding, and demonstrate its feasibility. We implement simultaneous data and power transmission using a PSIC-DCF, and experimentally evaluate their characteristics using analog radio-over-fiber (A-RoF) and 4 K video data signal transmissions. In addition, we perform simultaneous A-RoF data and power transmission over a 1.75 km PSIC-DCF, which is a very long transmission length reported so far for PWoF using DCFs. Furthermore, we present an optically powered passive optical network architecture and experimentally clarify its feasibility for mobile front-haul networks.