Internet’s bandwidth in one cable??!

A group of researchers have gathered from the Netherlands and the US to create the fastest ever fiber network the world has ever seen! Being able to transmit 255 terabits per-second down a single strand of fiber!

This can littlery transmit around 32 terabytes per-second, and if you wanted a 1GB move you could download it within 31.25 microseconds (0.03 milliseconds), or a terabyte of data in 31 milliseconds! This 255Tbps is almost or maybe even more than the total sum of all internet traffic at certain times!


Schematic of device utilized to send the data over fibre optic cable, design of cable below  schematic

If this wasn’t reason enough to get excited about this development in comparison with what is already in commercial operation are only 100GB which is around 2,550 times slower than this breakthrough.

So how did they do this?


seven-core multi-mode fibre and its output over time of each core

Researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Central Florida researched and investigated this together creating a multicore fiber. These fibers are capable of transmitting light waves down a glass like tube at incredible speeds. To transmit a massive amount of data though a single line you can use (WDM) wavelength division multiplexing but this has its limits, however by using more than one wave of light they are able to use what’s known as multiple mode operation.

In the past it was very expensive to fabricate fiber optic wire to utilize this function however this breakthrough has seen the researchers use a single glass fiber with seven individual cores fabricated in the shape of a hexagon further inside of it. Then using what’s known as spatial multiplexing to reach 5.1 terabits per carrier, then use WDM to further add 50 carriers of this down the seven cores, pushing a recorded 255Tbps. They didn’t just do this in a lab either, they also tested this in the field with a one kilometer (0.62 miles) cable, receiving the same results!

Read about this: [Research paper: doi:10.1038/nphoton.2014.243]

This is truly amazing technology, as the public and business alike are most likely looking forward to these incredible new speeds in the future!

Have a great day!



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