The lifeblood of humanity is the transmission of information, which we are able to do at ever-increasing speeds. The most recent record is so astoundingly quick that we need to compare it to the entirety of the internet in order to understand it. Researchers were able to transmit 1.8 petabits per second using a solitary laser and a solitary optical device. One petabit is equal to one million gigabits, and that much data is equivalent to transferring twice as much internet traffic as there is on the planet now.
The optical chip is alone responsible for this astounding accomplishment. As a “frequency comb,” it is intended to transform laser light into a spectrum of frequencies. Each of the frequencies can contain its own stream of data, which is then sent over fiber optics. The frequencies are all evenly spaced apart (like the teeth of a comb). Without it, it would require 1,000 lasers to transmit the same amount of data. It’s interesting that while it’s excellent at fiber-optic transmission, it wasn’t designed with that in mind.
The study was released in the journal Nature Photonics.
