high-speed data transmission tagged posts

A new way to deliver faster, greener wireless connections indoors

A new way to deliver faster, greener wireless connections indoors
The image conceptually represents the compact, chip-scale platform integrating the 5×5 VCSEL array and custom beam-shaping optics to create a structured grid of uniform square spots. Credit: H. Safi (University of Cambridge)

Modern life depends on fast and reliable wireless connections. Video calls, streaming services, virtual reality, and smart devices all place growing demands on networks that already serve billions of users. Most wireless data today travels through radio-based technologies such as Wi-Fi and cellular systems.

While these approaches have been highly successful, they face mounting challenges, including crowded radio spectrum, interference in dense indoor spaces, and rising energy consumption as more devices come online.

A promising complementary approach is optic...

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Ultra-broadband photonic chip boosts optical signals to reshape high-speed data transmission

Ultra-broadband photonic chip boosts optical signals
A focus-stacked macro photograph of a fabricated gallium phosphide photonic chip featuring multiple spiral waveguides and other test structures. The chip width is just 0.55 cm across. Due to the high Kerr nonlinearity of gallium phosphide, its high refractive index, and its negligible two-photon absorption, extremely efficient optical parametric amplification and frequency conversion over S, C, and L optical communication bands are achieved using this chip. Credit: Nikolai Kuznetsov (EPFL).

Modern communication networks rely on optical signals to transfer vast amounts of data. But just like a weak radio signal, these optical signals need to be amplified to travel long distances without losing information.

The most common amplifiers, erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), have served...

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