Phys.org November 7, 2022 A major challenge for a scalable architecture for quantum information processing is based on emitters in nanostructures that are coupled by light. Researchers in Germany demonstrated the integration of erbium atoms with special optical properties into a silicon crystal. Thus, the atoms could be connected by light at a wavelength that is commonly used in telecommunications, making them ideal building blocks for future quantum networks that enable calculations with several quantum computers, as well as the secure exchange of data in a quantum internet. They achieved a narrow inhomogeneous broadening, less than 1 GHz, strong optical […]
Category Archives: Communications technology
Unipolar quantum optoelectronic devices: Higher speeds in free-space optical communications in the midinfrared band
Phys.org November 2, 2022 A recently demonstrated proof-of-concept of high-speed transmission taking advantage of intersubband devices was limited by the short-distance optical path (up to 1 m). An international team of researchers (France, USA -University of Central Florida, University of New Mexico) used an uncooled quantum cascade detector and a nitrogen-cooled quantum well-infrared photodetector to study the possibility of building a long-range link using unipolar quantum optoelectronics. They evaluated the maximum data rate of their link in a back-to-back configuration before adding a Herriott cell to increase the length of the light path up to 31m. By using pulse shaping, […]
A Single Laser Transmitted a Second’s Worth of Internet Traffic in Record Time
Science Alert October 25, 2022 As essential core technologies for optical fibre communication are approaching their limits of size, speed and energy-efficiency, there is a need for new technologies that offer further scaling of data transmission capacity. An international team of researchers (Denmark, Sweden, Japan) has shown that a single optical frequency-comb source based on a silicon nitride ring resonator supports data capacities in the petabit-per-second regime. They experimentally demonstrated transmission of 1.84 Pbit s–1 over a 37-core, 7.9-km-long fibre using 223 wavelength channels derived from a single microcomb ring resonator producing a stabilized dark-pulse Kerr frequency comb. They presented a theoretical […]
Antenna enables advanced satellite communications testing
MIT News September 6, 2022 Researchers at MIT Lincoln Laboratory have installed a Multi-Band Test Terminal (MBTT) which can rotate 15 degrees per second, completing a single revolution in 24 seconds. At this speed, the MBTT can detect and track satellites in medium and low Earth orbit. The MBTT is designed to be easily reconfigured to support multiple radio frequency (RF) bands used for military and commercial satellite SATCOM systems. Since its installation, it has supported a wide range of tests and experiments involving protected tactical waveform (PTW). It is also supporting international outreach efforts led by Space Systems Command […]
DARPA Kicks Off Program to Develop Low-Earth Orbit Satellite ‘Translator’
DARPA August 10, 2022 DARPA has selected 11 teams, from academia and large and small commercial companies, for Phase 1 of the Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node program, known as Space-BACN. Space-BACN aims to create a low-cost, reconfigurable optical communications terminal that adapts to most optical intersatellite link standards, translating between diverse satellite constellations. It would create an “internet” of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, enabling seamless communication between military/government and commercial/civil satellite constellations that currently are unable to talk with each other. Phase 1 of Space- BACN spans 14 months and will conclude with a preliminary design review for the first […]
Magnetic superstructures as a promising material for 6G technology
Phys.org June 20, 2022 A chiral spin soliton lattice (CSL) exhibits reconfigurability in periodicity over a macroscopic length scale. Such coherent and tunable characteristics of the CSL lead to an emergence of elementary excitation of the CSL and bring a controllability of the dispersion relation of the CSL phonon. An international team of researchers (Japan, Canada, Russia, Germany) used a broadband microwave spectroscopy technique, and directly found that higher-order magnetic resonance modes appear in the CSL phase of a chiral helimagnet CrNb3S6, which is ascribed to the CSL phonon response. The resonance frequency of the CSL phonon can be tuned […]
Researchers demonstrate 40-channel optical communication link, capable of transmitting 400 GB of data per second
Phys.org June 9, 2022 A team of researchers in the US (University of Central Florida, NIST, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania) has experimentally demonstrated a 400 Gbit/s optical communication link utilizing wavelength-division multiplexing and mode-division multiplexing for a total of 40 channels. This link utilizes a 400 GHz frequency comb source based on a chip-scale photonic crystal resonator. Silicon-on-insulator photonic inverse-designed 4 × 4 mode-division multiplexer structures enabled a fourfold increase in data capacity. They showed less than −10 dBm of optical receiver power for error-free data transmission in 34 out of a total of 40 channels using a PRBS31 pattern…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Researchers Just Set a New Record For Data Transmission Speed
Science Alert June 4, 2022 Researchers in Japan achieved new data transmission speed record using an optical fiber network similar to those currently used for internet infrastructure. In their experiment they used 0.125 mm diameter multi-core fiber (MCF), with WDM, total of 801 parallel wavelength channels were packed into the same line. They used four cores instead of the standard one, essentially quadrupling the routes for data to take, all while keeping the cable the same size as a standard optical fiber line. They applied various other optimization, signal boosting, and decoding technologies. The team plans to continue to improve […]
Secure communication with light particles that sidesteps the reliance on polarization
Phys.org May 25, 2022 Researchers in Germany have created a scalable star-shaped quantum-key-distribution (QKD) optical-fiber network using WDM of broadband photon pairs to establish key exchange between multiple pairs of participants. They demonstrated simultaneous bipartite key exchange between any possible combination of participants and showed that the quantum bit error rate (QBER) itself can be used to stabilize the phase in the interferometers by small temperature adjustments. The key distribution is insensitive to polarization fluctuations in the network, enabling key distribution using deployed fibers even under challenging environmental conditions. They demonstrated that the network could be extended to 34 participants […]
A metasurface-based light-to-microwave transmitter for hybrid wireless communications
Phys.org May 13, 2022 Realizing signal conversion between optical and microwave frequencies typically requires a complicated relay to perform multiple operations, which will consume additional hardware/time/energy resources. An international team of researchers (China, Singapore) has reported a light-to-microwave transmitter based on the time-varying and programmable metasurface integrated with a high-speed photoelectric detection circuit into a hybrid. Such a transmitter can convert a light intensity signal to two microwave binary frequency shift keying signals by using the dispersion characteristics of the metasurface to implement the frequency division multiplexing. In demonstration the system allowed dual-channel data transmissions in a light-to-microwave link. They […]