An international group of researchers from Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Chalmers University of Techno­logy have achieved dizzying data trans­mission speeds and are the first in the world to transmit more than 1 petabit per second (Pbit/s) using only a single laser and a single optical chip. In the experiment, the researchers succeeded in trans­mitting 1.8 Pbit/s, which corresponds to twice the total global Internet traffic. This was carried by the light from only a single optical source and not the more than 1,000 lasers that it would otherwise require with the current state-of-the-art commer­cial equipment.

The light source is a custom-designed optical chip, which can use the light from a single infrared laser to create a rainbow spectrum of many frequencies. Thus, the one frequency of a single laser can be multi­plied into hundreds of frequencies in a single chip. The chip has been developed and manu­factured by a group of researchers at Chalmers University of Techno­logy in Sweden led by Victor Torres Company. Researchers from DTU have contributed with a computa­tional model to examine theo­retically the funda­mental potential for data transmission with a single chip identical to the one used in the experiment. The calcu­lations showed enormous potential for scaling up the solution.

“Our calcula­tions show that – with the single chip and a single laser – we will be able to transmit up to 100 Pbit/s. The reason for this is that our solution is scalable – both in terms of creating many frequencies and in terms of splitting the frequencies into many spatial copies and then opti­cally amplifying them, and using them as parallel sources for trans­mitting data.” The researchers’ solution bodes well for the future power consumption of the Internet. “Our solution provides a potential for replacing hundreds of thousands of the lasers currently located at Internet hubs and data centres, all of which guzzle power and generate heat. We have an oppor­tunity to contri­bute to achieving an Internet that leaves a smaller climate footprint,” says Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe. (Source: DTU)

Reference: A. A. Jørgensen et al.: Petabit-per-second data transmission using a chip-scale microcomb ring resonator source, Nat. Phot. 16, 798 (2022); DOI: 10.1038/s41566-022-01082-z

Link: DTU Fotonik, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark