(June 25, 2015) Electrical
engineers have broken key barriers that limit the distance information can
travel in fiber optic cables and still be accurately deciphered by a receiver.
Photonics researchers at the University of California, San Diego have increased
the maximum power — and therefore distance — at which optical signals can be
sent through optical fibers. This advance has the potential to increase the
data transmission rates for the fiber optic cables that serve as the backbone
of the internet, cable, wireless and landline networks. The research is
published in the June 26 issue of the journal Science.
The new study presents a solution to a long-standing
roadblock to increasing data transmission rates in optical fiber: beyond a
threshold power level, additional power increases irreparably distort the
information travelling in the fiber optic cable.