Rump Session
Hot Topic—Spatial Multiplexing
Yun Chung, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, Korea, OFC/NFOEC Program Chair
Tuesday, March 6, 7:30 PM -- 9:00 PM
Room 502A
Is Space Division Multiplexing an Industry-Transforming Technology or a Research Curiosity?
Moderator: Pat Iannone; AT&T Labs – Research, Optical Systems Research Department, USA
The question for this year’s Rump Session is the subject of heated debate across the optical communications industry: “Is space division multiplexing (SDM) an industry-transforming technology or a research curiosity?” Substantial research expenditures have already been committed to SDM as a means of breaking through the nonlinear Shannon limit, which sets a hard ceiling on the ultimate capacity achievable in single-mode fiber transmission systems. Proposed SDM systems use multi-core or multi-mode fibers to multiply the fiber’s capacity. Many believe SDM will be essential if the industry is to continue the dramatic decades-long reductions in cost per bit of optical long-haul systems. Skeptics worry that the huge investment required to invent and commercialize critical cost-effective SDM-compatible network elements, such as optical amplifiers and ROADMs, will not be justified by a one-time increase in capacity.
The rump session will be a spontaneous discussion among the audience members. Other than a brief introduction to the issue, there will be no scheduled speakers. You can participate by attending and raising your hand to inform the moderator that you wish to speak or respond. A slide or two can be used to illustrate a point, but each speaker will be limited to a total of two minutes at the microphone. Conversation will flow most freely if your slide is on a plastic transparency, but we will accommodate digital slides on USB sticks and possibly slides transmitted over the wireless network. We will provide pens and transparencies for spontaneously written hand-drawn slides, which, after all, reflect the true spirit of a "rump" session.
The moderator encourages prospective participants to send their 1 or 2-slide presentation to ppi@research.att.com before March 1st. This will ensure that your slides are pre-loaded, thus streamlining the process. This will not, however, guarantee a speaking slot. You will still have to be called on by the moderator.