New optical fibre cable transmits at the speed of 17 million internet connections, say researchers

An international collaboration of researchers have invented an optical fibre cable that is no thicker than a human hair (125 microns), and yet is capable to handle the world's internet traffic. The new optical fibre cable transfers 1.7 petabits of data over 41 miles (67 km) of standard optical fibre cable. That's the equivalent speed of 17 million broadband internet connections, the researchers claimed.

Optical fibre cables are a critical component of the modern world of the internet, where they connect data centers, satellite ground stations, mobile phone towers as well as continents to one another. Technology companies like Facebook even own their own undersea cable infrastructure to make global connections.

The research was led by researchers at Australia’s Macquarie University, along with those of Japanese National Institute of Information and Communications Technology and Sumitomo Electric Industries. Researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) and the University of L'Aquila (Italy) also collaborated on the project.

The fibre, which contains 19 cores that can each carry a signal, and can be adopted without any infrastructure changes. That means, they would require less digital processing, and significantly reduces the power required per bit transmitted, said, Macquarie University researchers.

The current generation of subsea cables carry 22 terabits per second in each of 16 fibre pairs.

Macquarie University’s School of Engineering postdoctoral research fellow Dr Simon Gross noted that current technology is practically limited to only a few terabits per second due to interference between the signals.

"We could increase capacity by using thicker fibres. But that would be less flexible, more fragile, less suitable for long-haul cables, and would require massive reengineering of optical fibre infrastructure," said Gross, who hopes to see the new technology in use within five to 10 years.

Professor Michael Withford from Macquarie University’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, believes this breakthrough in optical fibre technology has far-reaching implications.

“The optical chip builds on decades of research into optics at Macquarie University,” said Professor Withford, adding that “the underlying patented technology has many applications including finding planets orbiting distant stars, disease detection, and even identifying damage in sewage pipes.”

"The optical chip builds on decades of research into optics at Macquarie University," he said, adding that the underlying patented technology has many applications including finding planets orbiting distant stars, disease detection, and even identifying damage in sewage pipes.