Ultra-fast fiber hits global speed record of 1.02 petabits per second over continental distance
Achieving a global record, fiber optics now transmits 1.02 petabits over 1,808 km.
The groundbreaking achievement by Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and Sumitomo Electric Industries represents a significant technological advancement in the fiber optics field. They have developed a 19-core optical fiber that can transmit data at a staggering 1.02 petabits per second over a distance of 1,808 kilometers. This data rate allows the downloading of the entire Netflix library 30 times in an instant. Unlike previous multi-core designs, this fiber operates efficiently in both the C and L bands, which are commercial standards globally, due to a refined core arrangement that significantly reduces signal loss.
A core feature of this innovation is the use of a 19-core fiber, where each core functions independently to form a data channel, effectively creating a '19-lane highway' in the same size footprint as traditional single-core fibers. This marks a leap from existing limits, which often confined high-speed transmission to short distances or specific wavelength bands. To test this high-speed fiber over continental distances, the team employed an 86.1-kilometer fiber segment, looping signals through it 21 times to simulate a true cross-continental journey. It resembles linking cities like Berlin to Naples or Sapporo to Fukuoka.
One of the key technological enablers for this experiment was the setup of a dual-band optical amplification system, which enhanced the signal integrity over the extensive distance. The use of 16QAM modulation allowed 180 separate wavelengths to carry data in unison, demonstrating an efficient packing of information in each pulse. At the receiving end, a 19-channel detector used advanced MIMO processing to unravel interference between cores accurately, much like isolating 19 simultaneous conversations within a noisy room.
Reflecting on past achievements, the NICT team previously set a record of 1.7 petabits per second, albeit over a shorter span of 63.5 km. Prior attempts used 4-core fibers, achieving 0.138 petabits over 12,345 km by utilizing the S-band, known for its impracticality for long-range communication. The consistent core design of the new 19-core fiber effectively circumvents many of these earlier challenges, setting a new benchmark with a capacity-distance product of 1.86 exabits per second per kilometer, an uplift over 14 times the previous records with standard fibers.
Sumitomo Electric engineers emphasize that the existing manufacturing lines can adapt to produce this new 19-core design with minimal changes, paving the way for its scalable deployment. As global data traffic is anticipated to triple by 2030, the significance of this innovation cannot be overstated. Concurrent developments in AI-driven signal processing by NICT hint at further improvements. This milestone highlights fiber optics not only as a fundamental component of future internet infrastructure but as the backbone of an immensely interconnected world, streamlining the path to petabit-scale networks.
Sources: TechSpot, NICT, Sumitomo Electric Industries