- Hole-core fiberglass lights through air to faster transmission than glass
- Microsoft-backed researchers claim record-low signal loss in new fiber design
- Ultra-thin glass membranes reduce energy loss and maintain strong data signals
Microsoft-backed researchers have revealed a new design for hole core fiber that promises record losses and faster transmission speeds.
Unlike conventional solid-core optical fibers that control light through glass, this approach can brighten through the air so that it can travel closer to its theoretical maximum speed.
Former hollow-core design joints excessive signal weakening, which made them impractical, but the latest refinement uses ultra-thin glass membranes to maintain the signal while reducing energy loss.
Builds on previous trials and new breakthroughs
This work is based on the hollow -core fiber (HCF) cables previously tried by Lumenisity with UK Telco BT before Microsoft acquired the company.
The team, still linked to the University of Southampton and now supported by significant Microsoft financing, claims that its design can surpass conventional optical fibers in both signal loss and bandwidth.
Its refinement of the “double embedded antiresonant nodeless hollow core fiber” approach uses thin glass membranes to help guide the light more effectively.
The group has reported a record-low loss of 0.091 db km-1, which represents the first time this technology has beaten conventional fiber in this key metrics.
Conventional optical fibers with a fixed core already achieve a minimum loss of 0.14 decibels per day. Kilometer.
The first generation of hollow design struggled to get below 1 db km-1, a level that would have required extensive reinforcement.
The idea of hollow-core fiber has been discussed for decades, largely because of the theoretical benefits of sending light through air rather than glass.
Light moves through glass at about 200 million meters per second, while moving through the air of approx. 300 million meters per second.
The researchers claim that their design supports the transmission speed up to 45% faster than today’s fiber fibers.
With further refinement, they suggest that it could eventually deliver bandwidth between five and ten times wider.
Such improvements may prove to be useful in applications where delays are expensive, from AI tools that require fast data transfer to mobile networks that need lower latency.
Francesco Poletti, who co -founded lumenism before Microsoft acquired it, said this is “one of the most notable improvements in wavy leader optical technology in the last 40 years” and “A potential revolution in optical communication.”
Even if the performance gains hold, there will be problems with global standardization for wider adoption, and Poletti believes that data center operators may not have access for another five years.
This message comes in the wake of similar research from Chinese groups if slightly thicker membrane structures can enable cheaper production.
However, these methods could reduce bandwidth compared to the Microsoft-supported design.
Whether an approach dominates may depend on production reigns rather than laboratory results.
Via the register
