Wires are so old school. Nowadays, most of our information
(whether on the Internet, TV, or phone) is communicated over fiber optic
cables, long strands of material that can transmit information as light over
distances. And with a new discovery, fiber optic cables could become cheaper,
more efficient, and could literally cover more ground.
The research is published in a new paper in Science where researchers at the University of
California at San Diego tackled a problem familiar to anyone that has ever
played 'telephone.' Just like when you were a kid and you sent a nonsensical
whisper down a line of people, only to hear a totally different phrase at the
end of the game, the longer a fiber optic cable is, the more chances for
information to get distorted along the way. Today, we solve the problem with
machines called repeaters placed strategically along a fiber optic route, which
reduce the noise. But repeaters are expensive.
“Today’s fiber optic systems
are a little like quicksand. With quicksand, the more you struggle, the faster
you sink. With fiber optics, after a certain point, the more power you add to
the signal, the more distortion you get, in effect preventing a longer reach.
Our approach removes this power limit, which in turn extends how far signals
can travel in optical fiber without needing a repeater,” Nikola Alic, one of
the authors of the study said in
a press release.
The approach Alic and his
colleagues took was to develop a 'frequency comb'--a method that removes the
troublesome distortion by working with it. Instead of sending the information
as is, the frequency comb alters information slightly at the start so that the
distortion won't affect it dramatically. When the information reaches its
destination, it can be easily decoded because the receiver knows exactly how
the information has been changed, and can change it back.
With the new method, the
engineers showed that fiber optic cables could transmit information reliably
over nearly 7,500 miles, twice as
far as before, without needing
expensive equipment stationed every 60
miles along the route to filter
out the noise.
That means that more
information can be transmitted faster and for less money. Looks like our small
world might get even smaller.
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