Photonics Spectra: telecommunications This is the syndication feed for Photonics Spectra: telecommunications. https://www.photonics.com/Splash.aspx?Tag=telecommunications Thu, 28 Mar 2024 18:39:31 GMT Fri, 01 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT 1800 UK Funding Fuels Future Telecom Research
The Technology Missions Fund (TMF) Future Telecoms Mission will provide sixteen projects with a share of £22 million to support development and commercialization of technology solutions. Projects will be led by academia and industry alike and will work on technologies such as optical network switches, LiFi, mid-infrared free space telecommunications, and optical transceivers.

The remaining £40 million ($50 million) will support three existing future Telecoms...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/UK_Funding_Fuels_Future_Telecom_Research/p5/a69774 A69774 Fri, 01 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Optical Isolator Guards Against Unwanted Reflections
An optical isolator developed at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) could drastically improve optical systems for many practical applications.

Many optical systems, such as those used for telecommunications, microscopy, imaging, quantum photonics, and more, rely on a laser to generate photons and beams of light. To prevent those lasers from damage and instability, these systems also require isolators, which are components that prevent light from traveling in undesired directions. Isolators also help cut down on signal noise by preventing light from bouncing around unfettered. But conventional isolators have been relatively bulky in size and require more than one type of material to be joined...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Optical_Isolator_Guards_Against_Unwanted/p5/a69133 A69133 Fri, 30 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT
Modulator Drives Record-Fast Transmission in Face of Data Traffic
Although silicon photonics holds potential as a platform for optical transceivers, owing largely to its CMOS compatibility, the approach is limited in its electro-optic bandwidth. It also carries high driving voltage requirements. The qualities can hinder its use in optical communications network scaling, which is needed to accommodate the rapid growth of data traffic.

Using standard chip technology and standard data encoding algorithms, researchers at McGill University and Ericsson Canada demonstrated optical communication at 105 Gbaud with net 1 Tbit/s transmission. The team designed the system using a CMOS-compatible silicon photonic modulator, and claimed a record-breaking data rate of 1 Tbit/s. This speed is fast enough to...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Modulator_Drives_Record-Fast_Transmission_in_Face/p5/a69097 A69097 Wed, 21 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT
Supermode Optical Resonator Moves Beyond Conventional Cavities
Researchers in the lab of Federico Capasso at Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a supermode optical resonator. The technology could have applications in telecommunications, laser technology, and fiber optics, among other areas.

“This is an advance that alters in a fundamental way the design of resonators by using reflectors that convert light from one pattern to another as it bounces back and forth,” said Capasso, the Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in electrical engineering at SEAS.

Optical resonators are a key component in a broad swath of technologies. Optical resonators consist of two reflectors that...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Supermode_Optical_Resonator_Moves_Beyond/p5/a68779 A68779 Tue, 21 Feb 2023 07:00:00 GMT
Single Laser on Optical Chip Sets Data Transmission Record
An international team of researchers has reportedly set a data transmission record using just a single laser and optical chip to transmit more than 1 Pbit/s. The researchers, from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, transmitted data at 1.8 Pbit/s, corresponding to double the total global internet traffic.

The demonstrated data transmission method used significantly less power than conventional approaches to data transmission and can help reduce the internet’s climate footprint, according to the team.

The light source in the team’s experiment was a custom-designed, frequency comb-producing optical chip; the chip used light from a single infrared laser to create a...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Single_Laser_on_Optical_Chip_Sets_Data/p5/a68478 A68478 Thu, 03 Nov 2022 07:00:00 GMT
Frequency Converters Take Big Step Toward Miniaturizing Lasers
Researchers from Columbia University and Politecnico di Milano used an atomically thin material to build microscopic color converters. The advancement is a first step toward replacing the standard materials used in today’s tunable lasers, which are measured in millimeters and centimeters. “Nonlinear optics is currently a macroscopic world, but we want to make it microscopic,” said Chiara Trovatelloa, a postdoctoral student who worked on the research in the lab of James Schuck, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia.
The device — a fraction of the size of conventional color converters — could produce new kinds of ultrasmall optical circuit chips and advance quantum optics, the...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Frequency_Converters_Take_Big_Step_Toward/p5/a68321 A68321 Tue, 30 Aug 2022 08:00:00 GMT
Quantum Drone Network Offers Versatile Security Across Environments
Warner Miller of Florida Atlantic University (FAU), in collaboration with with Qubitekk, a manufacturer of entangled photon sources, and L3Harris, is leading a domestic effort to deliver what will reportedly be the first drone-based, mobile quantum network to share quantum-secured information. Once developed, the network will maneuver around buildings, inclement weather, and terrain, and it will quickly adapt to changing environments such as warfare.

The network includes a ground station, drones, lasers, and fiber optics. The entangled single-photon sources are produced by focusing a laser on special nonlinear crystals and then processing the resulting “down-conversion” beam of photons. The optical alignment system uses...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Quantum_Drone_Network_Offers_Versatile_Security/p5/a68054 A68054 Thu, 26 May 2022 07:00:00 GMT
Integrated Laser on Lithium Niobate Chip to Spur Advanced Telecom
In collaboration with industry partners at Freedom Photonics and HyperLight Corp., researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) developed what the collaborators said is the first fully integrated high-power laser on a lithium niobate chip. The technology paves the way for high-powered telecommunications systems, fully integrated spectrometers, optical remote sensing, and efficient frequency conversion for quantum networks, among other applications.

Lithium niobate photonics technologies have seen a number of recent developments, from frequency combs to frequency converters and modulators. But lasers have proved difficult to integrate. An integrated laser would greatly reduce the cost...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Integrated_Laser_on_Lithium_Niobate_Chip_to_Spur/p5/a67945 A67945 Fri, 15 Apr 2022 07:00:00 GMT
Modular Waveguide Represents Step Toward Faster Quantum Computers
Researchers at the University of Tokyo generated strongly nonclassical light using a modular waveguide-based light source. The demonstration, which the researchers said is the first of its kind, is poised to benefit future work aimed at creating faster and more practical optical quantum computers.

Continuous-wave squeezed light is used to generate the various quantum states necessary to perform quantum computing. For optimal computing performance, the squeezed light source must exhibit very low levels of light loss and be broadband.

In the work, the researchers generated a state of light known as Schrödinger or Schrödinger’s cat, which is a superposition of coherent states. The team created a waveguide optical...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Modular_Waveguide_Represents_Step_Toward_Faster/p5/a67940 A67940 Thu, 14 Apr 2022 07:00:00 GMT
Optical Angular Momentum Shatters Data Ceiling
An optical antenna developed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, can, in principle, provide limitless bandwidth. The technology takes advantage of orbital angular momentum (OAM), a characteristic of light that enables multiplexing, or simultaneous transmission, exponentially greater than current technology.

According to Boubacar Kanté, the study’s principal investigator and the Chenming Hu Associate Professor at UC Berkeley’s Department of Engineering and Computer Sciences, current methods of transmitting signals through electromagnetic waves are approaching their limit. Frequencies are becoming clogged, and while the process and effect of polarization is able to double the amount information...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Optical_Angular_Momentum_Shatters_Data_Ceiling/p5/a66740 A66740 Mon, 01 Mar 2021 07:00:00 GMT
Luna Innovations Acquires Fiber Optics OEM Solutions Company New Ridge Technologies
NRT’s portfolio includes products for phase tracking, polarimetry, optical spectral analysis for lab use, OEM solutions, and field measurement devices. According to a Luna press release, the investment will support enhanced customer connectivity in...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Luna_Innovations_Acquires_Fiber_Optics_OEM/p5/a66349 A66349 Mon, 02 Nov 2020 13:56:54 GMT
Europe Backs On-Board Optics Standards
In the quickly evolving datacom and telecom fields, one of the best ways to speed up the replacement of old technology is through the development of common rules for the manufacturing of interchangeable and interoperable optical modules.

EPIC, in partnership with the Consortium for On-Board Optics (COBO), is developing specifications to permit the use of board-mounted optical modules in the manufacturing of networking equipment such as switches and servers.

Component control

Standardization has attracted a lot of attention in the datacom and telecom industries as a way to overcome the currently inconsistent design philosophies caused by the fragmented nature of equipment suppliers. The standardization of components provides...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Europe_Backs_On-Board_Optics_Standards/p5/a64657 A64657 Thu, 25 Apr 2019 14:00:05 GMT
Fiber Optics Crucial to Future Datacom Transmission
Fiber optics technology plays a critical role within the telecommunications sector, thanks to the wide-scale and growing adoption of the technology in communication and data transmission services. Optical fibers are used in high-speed data transfer services, in both short- and long-range communications. Combined with the added surge in cloud-based applications, audio-video services, and video-on-demand technology, the market shows no signs of slowing.


Holey fibers could offer a means to increase bandwidth with lower latency, improved power handling, and improved quality of light transmission by replacing conventional glass cores with air or a vacuum to produce hollow-core “light pipes.” Courtesy of the Optoelectronics...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Fiber_Optics_Crucial_to_Future_Datacom/p5/a64061 A64061 Fri, 26 Oct 2018 08:35:04 GMT
Glass Doped with Erbium Could Be Used for Optical Circuits
A material created by doping glass made from zinc, sodium, and tellurium with the rare-earth element erbium could be used for broadband planar waveguide amplifiers. Scientists have started testing planar waveguides for use in signal transmission in place of long optical fibers, as waveguides make miniaturization easier. Electronic transition for erbium occurs at 1.5 μm — the standard wavelength in telecommunications technologies.

Researchers used ultrafast laser plasma doping to incorporate erbium ions as thin films in a silica substrate. A high-intensity (femtosecond) laser was aimed at the surface of the erbium-doped glass, blasting a tiny crater into the glass and producing a thin film from the plume of ejected material....]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Glass_Doped_with_Erbium_Could_Be_Used_for_Optical/p5/a63779 A63779 Wed, 08 Aug 2018 16:16:36 GMT
The Merits of Single-Mode vs. Multimode Fiber Optics
In the communications sector, short-distance connections, as required in a data center, benefit greatly from optical fibers. But what is best, single-mode or multimode communication?

There has been recent progress in the application of photonics technologies in the datacom field, including discrete components (PICs, VCSELs, LEDs), modules and systems (transceivers, receivers), fibers and connectors (types, deployment costs, alignment requirements), and new architectures for transport networks.

The growing number of users, amount of content being exchanged, and services such as cloud computing and mobile smartphones exponentially increase the traffic demand in data centers. This all requires bandwidths that only fiber optics can...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/The_Merits_of_Single-Mode_vs_Multimode_Fiber/p5/a63723 A63723 Fri, 27 Jul 2018 09:45:21 GMT
RF Reference Transmitted Over Fiber Optics Could Reduce Reliance on Atomic Clocks
Researchers from a consortium of Australian institutions have demonstrated that a stable radio-frequency (RF) reference can be reliably transmitted more than 300 km over a standard fiber optic telecommunications network and used to synchronize two radio telescopes. The new technology could allow scientists anywhere to access the frequency standard simply by tapping into the telecommunications network, regardless of whether they have access to an atomic clock.

The RF reference for very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) over a telecom optical fiber link was performed by means of an innovative phase-conjugation technique. Bidirectional optical amplification was used in parallel with live traffic, and phase perturbations in the...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/RF_Reference_Transmitted_Over_Fiber_Optics_Could/p5/a63074 A63074 Fri, 02 Feb 2018 12:10:35 GMT
Getting More Out of Telecom Fiber
The rising amount of data generated by people and machines around the world travels largely by fiber, with some of it moving thousands of miles in a hop. For some long jumps, new ultralow-loss, large effective area fiber is going into the ground and under the sea, leading to higher performance. There also are new signaling modulations and other innovations, all aimed at boosting bandwidth and cutting the cost of moving data.


But upping transmission power, which leads to a longer reach, or faster speeds in other situations, is not an option when it comes to fiber, according to Sergejs Makovejs, market and technology development manager at Corning Inc. of Corning, N.Y.

For every type of fiber, there is a power level that gives...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Getting_More_Out_of_Telecom_Fiber/p5/a63055 A63055 Mon, 29 Jan 2018 13:05:48 GMT
Optics: Form, Function and the Future
For all of their diversity of form and function, the vast range of available optical components and optical fibers have much in common — materials, engineering and design, and techniques in fabrication and metrology. And they are among the critical enabling technologies of the future.

Today, optical technologies are integral to sensors, microscopes, lasers, cameras and more, and the list keeps growing. They are employed by the military for field detection in submarines and IR imaging on the battlefield. They can be found on factory floors and in surgical suites. The continuing commercialization of optical fiber has put it at the core of an increasingly connected world and nontelecom applications continue to expand, as well.
...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Optics_Form_Function_and_the_Future/p5/a62609 A62609 Tue, 03 Oct 2017 14:23:33 GMT
Qubitekk Licenses Oak Ridge Photon Production Method
Quantum computing and cryptography technology developer Qubitekk Inc. has non-exclusively licensed a method developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to produce photons in a controlled, deterministic manner that promises improved speed and security when sharing encrypted data.

An existing Qubitekk prototype will leverage ORNL's single-photon source approach, bringing the device closer to generating pairs of quantum light particles in a controlled, deterministic manner that is useful for quantum encryption. Courtesy of Qubitekk.
Current encryption techniques rely on complex mathematical algorithms to code information that is decipherable only to the recipient who knows the encryption key. Cyber threats in the energy...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Qubitekk_Licenses_Oak_Ridge_Photon_Production/p5/a62365 A62365 Mon, 14 Aug 2017 10:43:50 GMT
Tunable Single-Photon Emitter Could Empower Quantum Info Processing
Carbon nanotube quantum light emitters have been produced that are capable of single-photon emission at room temperature and at telecommunications wavelengths. These emitters could be used for optically based quantum information processing and information security as well as for sensing, metrology and imaging.

Critical to the success of the project was the ability to force the nanotube to emit light from a single point along the tube, specifically at a defect site. The key was to limit defect levels to one per tube so that only one photon could be emitted at a time. To achieve such a high degree of control, researchers used diazonium-based chemistry to bind an organic molecule to the nanotube’s surface to serve as the defect....]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Tunable_Single-Photon_Emitter_Could_Empower/p5/a62346 A62346 Mon, 07 Aug 2017 16:48:21 GMT