Fiber Optic

Telecommunications

Tiny device speeds up the internet 100 times over by reading "twisted" light

Fiber optics allows for ultra-fast communication systems, and more data can be crammed in by "twisting" the light. Now, Australian researchers have developed a device to decode beams that’s small enough to fit over the end of a fiber optic cable.

One of the far-UVC-diffusing optical fibers used in the study

Medical

UV-emitting fibers could prevent catheter-caused infections

Medical devices such as catheters extend from within a patient's body out through an opening in their skin, and unfortunately those openings often become infected. Thanks to new research, however, ultraviolet optical fibers may eventually keep such infections from occurring.

Medical

Tiny probe sees inside the brain to take temperature

University of Adelaide researchers have created a fiber optic probe that can reach deep into the brain to capture images and measure temperature. It’s been developed to learn more about hyperthermia to do with drug use, and may lead to new understanding of drug toxicology.

A 3 mile (4.8 km) loop of fiber optic cable buried underneath Stanford University was able to detect 800 seismic events over the course of a year

Environment

Fiber optic internet cables could double as earthquake detectors

While current seismometers can pick up tremors with precision, they’re short-ranged and expensive. Now a Stanford study has demonstrated that an extensive earthquake-detection network could already exist right under our feet: the optical fiber cables piping high-speed internet throughout cities.

A new fiber optic technique for studying muscle health could remove the need for painful muscle biopsies

Medical

Fiber optic probe beats a biopsy for measuring muscle health

Diagnosing a muscular disorder often requires a painful tissue sample biopsy. Researchers have developed a less invasive alternative, using a thin fiber optic probe to quickly scan and measure the health of muscle tissue. For the first time, the team has now tested it on living muscles.

A new technique shines light through a patient's blood during surgery, to alert surgeons at the first sign of a potentially dangerous clot

Medical

Fiber optics shine a light on blood clots during surgery

To counter blood clots, surgeons administer blood thinning drugs throughout a procedure, but knowing when to do so is difficult. By shining light through the patient’s blood, researchers have developed a new system that gives surgeons real-time feedback and alerts them at the first sign of a clot.

Unlike other optical fibers which can be rigid as glass, the new hydrogel-based fiber is a flexible as licorice

Medical

Implantable optical fibers might light up early signs of disease

A soft, stretchy optical fiber developed at MIT and Harvard appears to be quite a promising candidate for using light to stimulate cells inside the brain, and could possibly even act as an warning light for diseases in other parts of the body.

Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Bell Labs researchers claim to have achieved experimental optical fiber transmission speeds equivalent to streaming more than 10 million HDTV channels simultaneously across a single cable

Telecommunications

Nokia's super-fast subsea data cable torpedos the competition

Using a technique known as Probabilistic Constellation Shaping, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Bell Labs researchers claim to have achieved subsea optical fiber transmission speeds equivalent to streaming more than 10 million HDTV channels simultaneously across a single cable.

By embedding light-emitting nanoparticles directly into glass, scientists have created an almost perfectly translucent material that glows brightly and evenly when stimulated by lower-frequency light

Materials

Embedded nanoparticles clear the way for smart glass devices

Scientists have incorporated light-emitting nanoparticles into glass so that it remains almost perfectly transparent, but glows brightly when stimulated. This new "hybrid glass" may one day be used to create new smart glass devices, including smart 3D displays and remote radiation sensors.

Microsoft and Facebook are planning to build a cable across the Atlantic Ocean, with an estimated initial data capacity of 160 terabits per second

Telecommunications

Microsoft and Facebook to lay a huge subsea cable across the Atlantic

Microsoft and Facebook have announced plans to build "MAREA", a huge subsea cable connecting North America and Europe. Utilizing eight fiber pairs, the cable's initial capacity is estimated to be 160 Tbps, which will make it the highest capacity cable crossing the Atlantic.

Google is looking at expanding Fiber to a number of cities

Telecommunications

Google Fiber is heading to San Francisco

Google announced Wednesday that the company will bring gigabit Internet service to certain apartments and condos in San Francisco.

An engineer works on a carbon fiber cabinet

Telecommunications

Simplified optical receiver would cut cost of fiber-to-the-home broadband

Researchers have successfully created a new optical receiver that they believe is simple and cheap enough to produce and install on a large scale. The new technology uses a fraction of the components of existing tech, and could provide in-home data transmission rates of up to 10 Gb/s.