Fiber Optic

While it's often important for doctors to monitor a patient's physical activity throughout the day, placing cameras in their home is an obtrusive way of doing so. Scientists have now developed an alternative, in the form of activity-tracking pants.

A team of international researchers say they’ve set a new world speed record for an industrial standard optical fiber that’s as thick as a human hair, achieving a data transmission rate of 1.7 Petabits per second over a 41-mile cable.

Global warming has caused many large whales to move from warmer waters, increasing the risk of being struck by ships. Researchers have used existing fiber-optic cables to track fin whales in real time, which may reduce the incidence of ship strikes.

GPS has its limitations in urban areas where signals can get noisy. Now, engineers in the Netherlands have developed “SuperGPS” – a hybrid positioning system that combines wireless and optical connections to pinpoint locations within centimeters.

Engineers have set a new speed record for data transmission through a standard diameter optical fiber. By beaming 55 “modes” of signals down a single-core optical fiber, the team was able to transmit at a data rate of 1.53 petabits per second.

The speed record for data transmission using a single light source and optical chip has been shattered. Engineers have transmitted data at a blistering rate of 1.84 petabits per second (Pbit/s), almost twice the global internet traffic per second.

Researchers in Germany have demonstrated quantum entanglement of two atoms separated by 33 km (20.5 miles) of fiber optics. This is a record distance for this kind of communication and marks a breakthrough towards a fast and secure quantum internet.

Researchers in Japan have clocked a new speed record for data transmission – a blistering 1.02 petabits per second (Pb/s). Better yet, the breakthrough was achieved using optical fiber cables that should be compatible with existing infrastructure.

Although fiber optic internet cable has many advantages over metal cable, it frequently has to be distributed underground – this limits its usability. Facebook, however, has developed a robot that could wrap the cable around existing power lines.

Although optical fibers are highly effective at data transmission, they're also relatively brittle. An experimental new type of optical fiber addresses that limitation, by incorporating a core made of liquid glycerol.

The record for fastest internet speed has been shattered with a data transmission rate of 319 Terabits per second through optical fibers. The record was set over more than 3,000 km of fibers, and is compatible with existing infrastructure.

Medical endoscopes may look small, but their tips are actually several millimeters wide, making them too big to image living cells within the body. A new system, however, lets users view images through a single ultra-thin strand of optical fiber.