A team of international researchers say they have set a new world speed record for an industry-standard optical fiber as thick as a human hair and containing a breakthrough 19 cores.

All of the world's internet traffic travels through 125-micron-thick fi ber optics, Connecting Continents, Data Centers, Mobile Phone Towers, Satellite Groups, and of Course Our Homes and Businessses. He  Width of a Thick Human Hair is 120 Micner.

ResearcherS from Australia, Japan, Italy and the Netherlands Used a fiber optic containing a breakthrough 19 cores, each carrying a signal, to transmit a signal at 1.7 petabits per second (Pbit/s) through a 41.6-mile (67-kilometer) cable. s) to transfer data at a speed. That's the equivalent of hosting over 10 million fast home Internet connections running at full capacity.

While technically this isn't the fastest data transfer rate ever recorded -- Scandinavian researchers hit 1.84 Pbit/s in 2022 -- the technology is far from being a reality.

"Decades of optical research around the world have enabled the industry to transmit increasing amounts of data over a single fiber," said Simon Gross of Macquarie University in Sydney. "They  used different colors, different polarizations, light coherence and many other tr icks to manipulate the light."

The key to the ultra-fast transmission is the glass chip used in the fiber. Developed by Macquarie University, it complies with global fiber size standards, ensuring adoption without major infrastructure changes.

"We created a compact glass chip into which a waveguide pattern was etched using 3D laser printing," Gross said. "  It allows the signal to be fed into the fiber's 19 individual cores with uniform low loss. Other methods are limited in the number of cores and cause excessive light loss, reducing the efficiency of the delivery system." Most optical fibers today Each has a single core that can carry multiple

optical signals, which means its transmission speed is limited to a few terabits per second due to interference between the signals.  While it is possible to increase the thickness of existing fibers,their flexibility and retrofit costs are reduced.

"We can increase capacity by using thicker fibers," Gross said.  "But thicker fibers are less flexible, more fragile, less suitable for long-distance cables, and require a massive redesign of the fiber infrastructure. We can add more fibers. But each fiber adds equipment overhead And cost, we need more fiber."

The researchers say their cable offers a good solution for delivering greater data flow at lower cost.  They also believe that 19-core fibers have applications in a range of fields.

"The fundamental patented technology has many applications, including finding planets orbiting distant stars, disease detection, and even identifying damage in sewage pipes," said Michael Withford of Macquarie University.

The researchers' findings were presented at the 46th Annual Conference on Optical Fiber Communications .