Scientists set new world record for data transfer at 1.8 petabits per second. That's twice the global internet traffic

Amazing stuff! Much higher transfer rates are theoretically possible!

"Using optical technology, Scandinavian researchers have completely shattered the record for the fastest data transmission in the world, achieving a dizzying 1.8 petabits per second (Pbit/s) ...

The researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden achieved this breakthrough using a single optical chip and one laser. The infrared laser fires a beam of light into the custom-made optical chip, which splits the light into a rainbow of many different colors or frequencies. Each of these frequencies can be isolated and used to imprint data sent over an optical fiber, resulting in a huge data transfer.

The real innovation lies in the chip, which can multiply a single frequency into hundreds of different colors, achieving the same data transfer otherwise possible using more than 1,000 lasers rather than only one. Data is transferred through light by modulating its properties, such as amplitude, phase, and polarization, thereby creating distinct signals that can be converted into either 1s or 0s. ..."

From the abstract:

"Optical fibre communication is the backbone of the internet. As essential core technologies 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. Here we show that a single optical frequency-comb source based on a silicon nitride ring resonator supports data capacities in the petabit-per-second regime. We experimentally demonstrate 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. We also present a theoretical analysis that indicates that a single, chip-scale light source should be able to support 100 Pbit s–1 in massively parallel space-and-wavelength multiplexed data transmission systems. Our findings could mark a shift in the design of future communication systems, targeting device-efficient transmitters and receivers."

Scientists set new world record for data transfer at 1.8 petabits per second. That's twice the global internet traffic You could download twice as much data as everyone on the internet with this connection.

Petabit-per-second data transmission using a chip-scale microcomb ring resonator source (no public access)