Two separate research projects have set new heights for data transmissions speeds over fibre optic networks.
In the first, scientists at Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs set an optical transmission record that could deliver data about 10 times faster than current undersea cables.
The researchers at the Bell Labs facility in France achieved dizzying speeds of more than 100 Petabits per second.kilometer, which equates to about 100 million Gigabits per second.kilometer.
This experiment involved sending the equivalent of about 400 DVDs per second over 7,000 kilometers, roughly the distance between Paris and Chicago.
Alcatel-Lucent says this is the highest capacity ever achieved over a transoceanic distance and represents an increase that exceeds that of today’s most advanced commercial undersea cables by a factor of ten.
To achieve these record-breaking results the Bell Labs researchers made innovative use of new detection techniques and harnessed a diverse array of technologies in modulation, transmission, and signal processing.
According to Bell Labs, this record breaking transmission is a milestone in boosting network capacity and speeds, and is a key step forward in satisfying the ongoing explosion in demand for ultra-fast broadband.
Meanwhile, researchers at Cornell University say they have found a way to squeeze 27 times more information into light pulses used to transmit data across fibre optic cables.
The Cornell team used a "time telescope" fitted with "time lenses" that can magnify time to dramatically increase the amount of data that can be sent through fibre cables.
The researchers say a similar device could be used to compress the data passing through packet-based optical networks, which would speed up broadband internet and other long-distance communications.
"We would be able to send 27 times as much information on the same wavelength channel," says Cornell University Mark Foster.
These tests demonstrate how an investment in a fibre to the premise network can really pay off for New Zealand. Transmission speeds over fibre can constantly be upgraded by new technological advances – often over the same cables already in place.
It would safe to say few researchers are still spending much time and effort to squeeze more capacity out of existing aging copper networks – time lenses and laser beams are much more fun to play with and will deliver far greater rewards for scientists and eventually end-users.