Applicability of low macrobending loss hollow-core PCF to FTTH applications

Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) technology has been significantly implemented in access networks, providing very high data rates transmission and a variety of digital content to subscribers. It involves an optical cable link being installed between the building entry point and each subscriber with the Multiple Dwelling Units (MDUs), i.e. flats and apartments. In other words, optical cable has to lie fairly straight to carry a strong signal, since typically is necessary to bend, twist and turn the lines in and out of tight corners without degrading the link connection. In this paper we propose the use of Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber (HC-PCF) for FTTH applications. It is presented an experimental analysis of the macrobending effects in a HC-PCF based on a comparison with traditional fibers and by following the ITU-T G.657B standard recommendations. We observe this fiber, with only 6.5 µm core, is bending loss insensitive, even at extremely small bending radius of 2 mm, in which it presents a loss of only 0.58 dB.