4 ms·
Also, I don't see this technology being compatible with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. See, even the best glass fiber is good only up to 80 km, that's not enoug
by aortega 14y ago
Also, I don't see this technology being compatible with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. See, even the best glass fiber is good only up to 80 km, that's not enough, but by placing a piece of erbium-doped fiber it acts as a laser-amplifier and the fiber lenght can go up to 4000 km. Now that's useful. IMHO the EDFA is the technology that really enabled high-speed internet.
- alokv28 14y agoWhy couldn't these fibres work with EDFAs? As long as the fibres are designed to operate in the C-band (~1.55 micron wavelength), there shouldn't be a problem running them through an amplifier.
- aortega 14y agoNo physicist here but I think there may be losses in the interface air/glass. Also, air contains water and other elements that may present too much attenuation at 1550 nm. I suspect the different lambda is one of the reasons of the limited bandwidth of the hollow fiber. I should try to RTFA.
- timthorn 14y agoIt's overcoming the losses in the interfacing that's the innovation here - holey fibres have been around for a while. Note that it's the same research lab doing this work as invented the EDFA in the first place.