Recently, a group of researchers from Denmark, Sweden and Japan completed the design and prototyped new photonic chips capable of transmitting and receiving data over standard optical fiber at theoretical speeds of up to 2 petabits per second. They even managed to achieve a speed of 1.84 petabits per second over 7.9 kilometers of fiber optic cable, setting a new record in this field.

The chip created by the researchers mainly uses the principles of photonics rather than conventional electronics. The incoming laser beam is split into 37 independent streams, each transmitted by a separate fiber optic strip. Then, in each of the 37 segments, 223 separate information channels are formed, occupying a strictly certain part of the spectrum, called the frequency comb; this allows you to increase the data volume many times and mutually avoid the use. effect of data streams.

The most interesting thing is that it’s all packaged in a matchbox-sized chip, and the new data transmission technology is called “large-scale parallel spatial-spectral data multiplexing.”

Tests of the new system were carried out using a special device capable of generating the required data flow, which is very difficult. A receiving device and a device counting the amount of data and checksums for verification were connected to the other end of the 8-kilometer fiber optic cable. And it is still not entirely clear whether 1.84 petabits per second is a limitation of the data transmission system itself or a limitation of the devices that generate the stream and perform the analysis of the received data.

But the best thing about all this is that you can start using the new chips right now. As a result, they are fully compatible with the fiber optic cable types used in the telecommunications industry. Source