Vol.:(0123456789) Optical and Quantum Electronics (2019) 51:371 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-019-2083-6 1 3 Worst crosstalk analysis in heterogeneous and trench assisted heterogeneous multicore fber for diferent core counts and layouts Umar Farooque 1,2  · Dharmendra Kumar Singh 1  · Rakesh Ranjan 1 Received: 1 December 2018 / Accepted: 17 October 2019 / Published online: 1 November 2019 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract In order to obtain appreciably low worst crosstalk level in high core count multicore fber, heterogeneous MCF with diferent core confgurations and layouts have been investigated analytically using coupled mode equation. The variations in worst crosstalk behavior with respect to the bending radius, core confgurations, core layouts, and outer cladding thick- ness have been analyzed. Further, the core count dependent variations in worst crosstalk level, core pitch, and peak bending radius in diferent core layouts have been presented. It has been observed that the selection of core confguration, core layout, and outer cladding thickness have signifcant impact on the reduction in worst crosstalk level. For example, in 12-core normal-index heterogeneous MCF with SLS structure, the core Confguration 1 can provide the worst crosstalk level reduced by 7.09 dB and 16.92 dB in comparison to the other two core confgurations, i.e., Confguration 2, and Confguration 3, respectively. Further, for the same core count with TA Confguration 1, SLS core layout can achieve the reduced worst crosstalk level in comparison with circular ORS and DRS, hexagonal ORS and DRS respectively by 24.62 dB, 25.86 dB, 28.87 dB and 30.64 dB. Keywords Crosstalk · Heterogeneous · Trench assisted · Core layouts · Outer cladding thickness · Peak bending radius * Umar Farooque ufarooque.mit@gmail.com Dharmendra Kumar Singh dksingh@nitp.ac.in Rakesh Ranjan rr@nitp.ac.in 1 Optical Fiber Communication and Photonics Laboratory, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Patna, Bihar 800005, India 2 Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Muzafarpur Institute of Technology, Muzafarpur, Bihar 842003, India