Seeing at a distance with multicore fibers: All-optical, ultra-long-distance image acquisition and transmission system

With the exponential growth of data globally, the demand for high-speed acquisition and long-distance transmission of multidimensional data is escalating. Online video surveillance in sectors like industrial manufacturing has significantly boosted productivity while mitigating security risks. Real-time global video calls have revolutionized people's daily lives.

Existing systems can leverage high-performance detectors, image sensors, and other technologies to gather carrier information like light, sound, and microwaves. This data is then transmitted back to the operator through various mediums such as cables, networks, wireless communications, and optical fibers.

However, in scenarios where narrow or challenging-to-access areas need observation, front-end acquisition equipment and electronic circuits (for tasks like information compression, coding, and modulation) are essential to process the data before transmission. This imposes specific requirements on the system's timeliness and resistance to interference.

In recent years, optical fiber has gained widespread adoption in data transmission due to its low transmission loss and high capacity. Although technologies like wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and space-division multiplexing (SDM) using multi-core optical fibers have significantly enhanced system transmission capacity and efficiency, the transmission process still necessitates multiple signal conversions.

All-optical acquisition and transmission enable the transfer of image information from one end to the other at the speed of light without the need for additional electronic components.

Fiber optic bundles can directly convert and transmit two-dimensional light fields end-to-end, making them crucial in extreme environments such as inaccessible and obscured areas like aerospace, industrial production, and health care. However, fiber optic bundles are typically limited in length, costly, and face challenges in ensuring quality during long-distance data transmission due to manufacturing constraints.

Researchers have developed various all-optical networks for tasks like information gathering, encrypted transmission, and image classification, which are anticipated to underpin next-generation communications.

Nonetheless, these systems encounter practical hurdles in their deployment and are generally compatible only with coherent light sources such as lasers. Hence, there is a pressing need for an efficient, high-capacity, and interference-resistant image acquisition and transmission system.

In a new study published in Opto-Electronic Advances, researchers have proposed an all-fiber multiplexed parallel acquisition and transmission one-piece system called Multicore Fiber Acquisition and Transmission Image System (MFAT) to tackle the challenges as mentioned above.

The front-end design, devoid of electronic circuits, obviates the necessity for intricate signal conversion processes, making it suitable for diverse environments and resilient to noise stemming from incoherent light sources. Image data is encoded in the optical domain through optical fiber coupling.