"A new type of hollow optical fibre promises to boost the amount of data that can be carried in each glass strand, and to do so over longer distances. This could help to make telecommunications systems faster and more efficient. The design, described in Nature Photonics on 1 September1, replaces the hair-thin wire of solid glass that typical fibres are made from with a system of glass straws', in which five small cylinders, each containing two nested cylinders, are attached to the inside rim of one main cylinder."
"The diameter of each tube is finely tuned in such a way that that the space can only accommodate light of certain wavelengths. This means that when a light pulse of an appropriate wavelength is sent down the hollow central gap, it will stay there, rather than escaping. We really think this could be transformative, says co-author Francesco Poletti, a photonics and materials-science researcher at the University of Southampton, UK."
The design replaces a solid-glass core with a network of nested hollow cylinders: five small tubes, each containing two nested cylinders, attached to the inner rim of one main cylinder. Tube diameters are finely tuned so the hollow central gap accommodates only specific wavelengths, keeping appropriately tuned light pulses confined rather than escaping. Production begins from a large 20-centimetre-diameter preform whose hollows are pressurized during stretching to maintain geometry. Lumenisity, a Southampton spin-off acquired by Microsoft in 2022, will produce the fibres. If manufacturable, installable and durable, the fibres could increase data capacity and transmission distances for telecommunications.
Read at www.nature.com
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