Bell Labs Breaks the 1-km Barrier

Researchers at Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, N.J., have demonstrated serial transmission at 10 Gb/s over a 1.6-km multimode fiber. In May, the team displayed 10-Gb/s serial transmission over 300 m of a fiber subjected to simulated worst-case stress.

The team used Murray Hill, N.J.-based parent company Lucent Technologies' LazrSpeed multimode fiber -- designed for applications in local area networks -- in the test to show an error rate of <10^-12. An 850-nm VCSEL transmitter was the signal source.

Martin Nuss, head of Bell Labs Optical Enterprise Networks Research, said the test is suggestive of LazrSpeed's ultimate capability.