- Hollow kernel fiber guides have light in the air for faster transmission than glass
- Researchers supported by Microsoft are demanding record signal loss in a new fiber design
- Ultra-thin glass membranes reduce energy loss and maintain solid data signals
The researchers supported by Microsoft have unveiled a new design for hollow core fibers which promises a loss of record signal and faster transmission speeds.
Unlike conventional optical fibers with a solid heart, which guide light through glass, this approach channels light in the air, allowing it to get closer to its theoretical maximum speed.
Previous conceptions of hollow hearts have undergone an excessive weakening of the signal, which makes them impractical, but the last refinement uses ultra-thin glass membranes to maintain the signal while reducing energy loss.
Relying on past tests and new breakthroughs
This work is based on hollow fiber cables (HCF) previously tested by Lumenissité with UK Telco Bt before Microsoft acquires the company.
The team, still linked to the University of Southampton and now supported by substantial financing of Microsoft, says that its design can surpass conventional optical fibers both in the loss of signal and the bandwidth.
His refinement of the “hollow fiber -free fiber -without knot” approach without a node “with double fool” uses thin glass membranes to help guide light more effectively.
The group reported a record loss of 0.091 DB km – 1, which represents the first time that this technology has been leaving conventional fibers to this key measure.
Optical fibers with a conventional solid nucleus already reach a minimum loss of 0.14 decibels per kilometer.
The first generation hollow conceptions had trouble putting itself below 1 db km – 1, a level that would have required in -depth amplification.
The idea of hollow heart fibers has been discussed for decades, largely due to the theoretical advantages of sending light by air rather than glass.
The light moves into the glass at around 200 million meters per second, while it moves in the air at around 300 million meters per second.
The researchers say that their design supports transmission speeds up to 45% faster than today’s solid fibers.
With additional refinement, they suggest that this could possibly provide a bandwidth between five and ten times wider.
These improvements could be useful in applications where delays are expensive, from AI tools requiring rapid data transfer to mobile networks requiring lower latency.
Francesco Poletti, who co -founded Lumenissité before Microsoft acquired it, said it was “one of the most remarkable improvements in optical technology guided by waves in the past 40 years” and “a potential optical communications revolution”.
Even if performance gains are holding, there will be problems with global standardization for wider adoption, and Poletti estimates that data centers may not have access for five years.
This announcement comes in the wake of similar research of Chinese groups, whose slightly thicker membrane structures can allow cheaper production.
However, these methods could reduce the bandwidth compared to the design supported by Microsoft.
The question of whether an approach dominates can depend on manufacturing realities rather than laboratory results.
Via the register
