3 ms·
Immediately: * You can pack many more different colors into fiber optic communication lines. Every color carries a few tens of GHz in modulation, but the carri
by nine_k 6mo ago
Immediately:
* You can pack many more different colors into fiber optic communication lines. Every color carries a few tens of GHz in modulation, but the carrier light is in hundreds of THz; there's a ton of bandwidth not used between readily available colors.
* You can likely do interesting molecular chemistry by precisely adjusting laser light to the energy levels of particular bonds / electrons.
* Maybe you can precisely target particular wavelengths / absorption bands for more efficient laser cutting and welding, if these adjustable lasers can be made high-power.
- suzzer99 6mo ago* Concert lasers just got a lot cooler.
- inetknght 6mo agoConcert tickets will still remain very hot though.
- firtoz 6mo agoEven with the latest updates? > Jury Finds Live Nation Acts as a Monopoly in a Victory for States In a verdict that could have far-reaching consequences in the music industry, the live colossus that includes Ticketmaster was found to have violated antitrust laws. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/arts/music/live-nation-antitrust-trial-verdict-monopoly.html?unlocked_article_code=1.cFA.CBSL.KeDGgmPu-G7F&smid=url-share https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/arts/music/live-nation-an...
- summa_tech 6mo agoFiber has fairly narrow windows in which it is as transparent as it needs to be to go long distance. We're already pretty good at filling these windows with conventional semiconductor lasers. What this is actually interesting for is being able to access arbitrary atomic transitions, many of which are outside the range of conventional semiconductors (too short, usually - there's a big hole between green and red for semiconductors). That's why they talk about quantum stuff.
- nine_k 6mo agoThis is true. But even within this window, e.g. between 1100 nm infrared and 700 nm red, we could put 40 different "colors" at 10 nm steps. Separation at the receiving end may become hard though.
- Hikikomori 6mo agoThey already do 1nm in dwdm.
- summa_tech 6mo agoStandard ITU grid is 100 GHz channel spacing, with subdivisions of 25 and 50. We're routinely using symbol rates high enough that the channels are fairly well filled.
- robocat 6mo ago> precisely adjusting laser light to the energy levels of particular bonds / electrons. However, the article is talking about discrete wavelengths. The device gives you a choice between a bunch of different fixed wavelengths. It isn't actually tunable to specific frequencies. Disclaimer: skim read article plus I know very little about the topic
- mapt 6mo agoWe can tune them slightly with differences in temperature if I recall correctly, but there are limited uses for a few nanometers up or down in wavelength. If there's now a versatile multi wavelength generator for numerous specific discrete frequencies, you may be able to just cool it down to access nearby bands.
- mapt 6mo agoDidn't we already invent much of this with wavelength division multiplexing and optical routing switches, the invention that pierced the tech bubble by quite suddenly increasing bandwidth of in-place fiber pipes by ~100x during a large buildout? (I am not an expert, but this is the narrative I've heard; I may not be using the right words)