Chinese researchers report major hollow-core fiber upgrades
Transmission capacities of 64Tbps were reached
The technology could replace solid-core fiber in infrastructure networks
No matter how fast your broadband (or 5G) connection is, it could always be faster , and ‘hollow-core’ fiber could help. Researchers in China have now set new records for the technology, demonstrating two-way, high-speed data transmission across a distance of 1,007 kilometers (626 miles). As reported by CCTV (via Interesting Engineering ), a transmission capacity of 64 terabits per second (Tbps) was achieved in each direction, enough to download 160 films in 4K resolution (50GB each) every second — so perfect for movie night. Individual signals took just 3. 43 milliseconds to travel the whole length of the link. The transmission distance is some 50 times greater than previous hollow-core trials of the same type, while latency was reduced by 30%, too. Signal-to-noise ratios and loss margins were also improved , according to the team from the China Telecom Research Institute, Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable (YOFC), and ZTE Corporation. It’s a technology that companies are already investing in. For example, last year Microsoft signed a deal with Corning and Heraeus to scale up production of hollow-core fiber in order to upgrade its Azure cloud platform…