Engineers Breaks Capacity Limit For Fiber Optic Transmission Which Means Faster Internet

Engineers have managed to break the capacity limit for fiber optic transmission, which means faster Internet is soon going to become a reality.

The breakthrough can make the Internet superfast and cheap, by increasing data transmission rates for the fibre optic cables, which serve as the backbone of the Internet, cable and landline networks.

"Today's fibre optic systems are a little like quicksand. With fibre optics, after a certain point, the more power you add to the signal, the more distortion you get, in effect preventing a longer reach," said corresponding author Nikola Alic from the Qualcomm Institute at University of California - San Diego.

"Our approach removes this power limit, which in turn extends how far signals can travel in optical fibre without needing a repeater," Alic added.

In an experiment, researchers successfully deciphered information after it travelled a record-breaking 12,000 km through fibre optic cables with standard amplifiers and no repeaters, which are electronic regenerators.

"We have presented a method for leveraging the crosstalk to remove the power barrier for optical fibre," the authors noted.

Findings of the study has been published in the journal Science.