Researchers have set a new record for data transmission speed at 1.02 petabits per second (Pb/s) using optical fiber compatible with existing infrastructure.
The 4-core optical fiber used by the NICT research team for data transmission has a diameter similar to that of standard optical fibers today. (Photo: Flipboard)
One petabit (Pb) is equivalent to one million gigabits (Gb), meaning the new record is approximately 100,000 times faster than the fastest household internet speed currently available. Even the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently achieved a speed of 400 Gb/s when the ESnet6 computer network became operational in 2023. Theoretically, a speed of 1 Pb/s allows for the streaming of 10 million video channels per second at 8K resolution.
The new record was established by a research team at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Japan through several emerging technologies. Firstly, the optical fiber contains 4 cores, instead of the usual single core. The signal transmission bandwidth was expanded to 20 THz thanks to wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM). The researchers created this bandwidth from a total of 801 wavelength channels across 3 bands: the C band, the L band, and the experimental S band. With the support of optical amplification technology and signal modulation, the research team was able to achieve a record speed of 1.02 Pb/s, transmitting data over 51.7 km of optical fiber.
This is not the first time scientists at NICT have surpassed the Pb/s milestone in data transmission. In December 2020, they reported a record of 1.01 Pb/s, using a single-core optical fiber and encoding data into 15 modes. The new record is not only faster but also transmits one mode per core, meaning the data can be read using current technology. Furthermore, the 4-core optical fiber has the same diameter of 0.125 mm as standard fibers, making it compatible with existing infrastructure and manufacturing processes. The research team announced the record at the International Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics 2022 held at the end of May.
