Japanese researchers have set a new data transmission speed record, sending 1.02 petabits of data per second over fiber over a distance of 51.7 km. (32 miles). The feat doubles the most recent record, set a year ago when the same researchers sent 319 terabits per second over fiber using wavelength-division multiplexing technology.
Although the recent record was set in the laboratory of the National Institute of Information and Technology of Japan, the difference this time is that the new record was achieved with technology compatible with the wired infrastructure. existing. NICT said the amount of data is equivalent to sending 127,500 GB of data every second, or as they characterized it, enough capacity for more than “10 million 8K broadcast channels per second,” and 100,000 times that. faster than what is promised to be the next generation of high-speed GB connections to the home.
The researchers used wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology which enabled record optical bandwidth of over 20 THz over a multi-core fiber (MCF) with a standard diameter of 0.125 mm. It incorporates the commercially adopted optical fiber transmission windows known as C and L bands and expands the transmission bandwidth to also include the recently explored S band.
“Two types of doped fiber amplifiers together with Raman amplification with added pumps in a novel multi-core pump combiner, enabled the transmission of 801 wavelength channels over the 20 THz optical bandwidth,” said said NICT in its announcement. “The large number of wavelength channels were transmitted in each core of a 4-core MCF which is distinguished by the same cladding diameter as a standard optical fiber.
“Such fibers are compatible with current cabling technologies and do not require the complex signal processing necessary to decrypt signals in multimode fibers, which means that conventional transceiver hardware can be used. 4-core MCFs are believed to be the most likely of the new advanced fiber optics for early commercial adoption,” NICT added. “This demonstration shows their information transport potential and is an important step towards realizing foundational communication systems that support the evolution of Beyond 5G information services.
More information is available in the NTIC press release.
