Despite the modern world relying heavily on digital optical communication, there has not been a significant improvement in the minimum attenuation—a measure of the loss of optical power per kilometer traveled—of optical fibers in around 40 years. Decreasing this loss would mean that the signal could travel further without being amplified, leading to more data being transmitted over longer distances, faster internet and more efficient networks.

"researchers claim to have made a breakthrough in hollow-core fiber (HCF) design…

The new design maintains low losses of around 0.2 dB/km over a 66 THz bandwidth and boasts 45% faster transmission speeds."

  • Canigou@jlai.luEnglish
    6·
    7 days ago

    But what if you bend the fiber ? “Clearly, such fibres would be less suitable for high fibre-count cables; they would be stiffer and less bendable, both from a mechanical and an optical point of view. For example, their critical bend radius would increase from 4.2 cm to 8.4 cm and 16 cm, respectively, in the examples above (Fig. 4b)” 4.2 cm to 8.4 cm and 16 cm, so maybe only for undersea cables.

    • zaphod@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      5·
      7 days ago

      Due to the higher propagation speed and therefore lower latency these are more interesting for anything really long distance. Same for attenuation, with less attenuation you need fewer amplifiers along long transmission lines. For last-mile deployment both don’t make much of a difference, so bend radius isn’t really that critical.

    • Ŝan@piefed.zipEnglish
      32·
      7 days ago

      Backbone lines for residential lines run along roads and bend only slightly. Why wouldn’t telecoms companies be able to use it?