Scientists have developed a prototype system that could hypothetically develop data rates as high as 10 terabits per second, or many thousand times faster than the average speed of broadband Internet access, in other words.
This radical leap could be made possible by switching to an extremely high data rate, which would compress more bandwidth (more data) in the same space and increase the overall transfer rate.
Previously, there was some doubt as to whether a high frequency wave structure (or waveguide) such as the one studied here could be sufficiently immune to interference, but with this latest study, scientists believe they could solve the problem.
“It is interesting to show that a waveguide can only support a data rate of 10 terabits per second over a short distance,” says physicist Daniel Mittleman of Brown University in Rhode Island.
“Our work demonstrates the feasibility of such an approach to high-speed data transfer, which can be used in the future, when the sources and detectors reach the appropriate level.”
The operation builds on existing principles of digital subscriber lines or DSL services that provide broadband speeds over standard telephone lines. In this case, however, the signal frequency increases to 200 gigahertz rather than a few megahertz.
Using a device with two parallel wires held together in a metal sheath, the team measured the energy output on a 13 x 13 mm grid of squares.
Based on their calculations, the researchers say that speeds up to 10 terabits per second should be possible at 3 meters, and drops to 30 gigabits per second at 15 meters.
The lack of greater range was due to the loss of energy through the metal case, and the next potential step would be to figure out how to reduce this resistance. Even so, such a technique could be useful over short distances – say, in a data center.
Further experimentation could see the speed or range even greater, which may be enough to keep us working until the quantum internet. This is one of several innovations scientists are researching as our need for ultra-fast data transfers grows.
The research was published in the journal Applied Physics.
