Fiber throughput multiplied by 100!
An important milestone has just been reached by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology - RMIT University. By improving data transmission equipment, the University announces that it will be able to increase fibre optic speeds by a factor of 100.
RMIT University is interested in a particularity of light that is used to transport information in an optical fibre. Indeed, since light propagation can be carried out in a spiral movement (OAM for Orbital AngularMomentum), it is possible to multiplex several signals on the same fibre. This increases the total bandwidth.
In order to exploit the OAM, the University has developed a miniaturized component capable of decoding such signals. "Our miniature OAM nanoelectronic detector is designed to separate different OAM light states in a continuous order, in order to decode the information conveyed by twisted light," explains Dr. HaoranRen. Previously, this required a machine the size of a table, which is completely unrealistic for telecommunications. By using ultra-fine nanosheets measuring a fraction of a millimetre, our invention does this work better and fits perfectly into the tip of an optical fiber. »
A small size and low cost sensor that would adapt to existing fiber sizes. This would allow us to "exploit the full potential of twisted light for future optical and quantum communications," says Dr. Min Gu of RMIT University.
Source :ZDNet