Layout design of densest weakly coupled multi-core fibers to minimize the network blocking rate

The suppression of inter-core crosstalk (IC-XT) that affects each lightpath is crucial for resource allocation in space-division multiplexing elastic optical networks (SDM-EONs) with multi-core fibers (MCFs). Resource allocation approaches that limit the simultaneous use of adjacent cores in the same frequency band to the MCFs composing each lightpath have been widely adopted to suppress IC-XT. However, in principle, such methods are inefficient because they cannot fully utilize all cores. This study examines the core density from the perspective of the core layout in weakly coupled MCFs and the IC-XT suppression requirement. The densest MCF layout maximizes the network capacity while restricting the amount of IC-XT within the tolerance threshold for each lightpath. Specifically, we propose an XT-free condition, maintaining the IC-XT to each lightpath within the acceptable tolerance level. In addition, we evaluated numerous MCFs that satisfy or do not satisfy the XT-free condition with various network topologies and cladding diameters. This evaluation also validates the IC-XT reduction performance of the proposed framework compared with that of the conventional resource-allocation approach. Here, we incorporate our indirect IC-XT calculation method that affects lightpaths from other cores via its nearest cores, which was overlooked in the resource allocation problem. Based on these comprehensive examinations, we propose a method to determine the densest core layout for a given network topology and route and modulation format selection algorithm.