Hollow core fibres cut losses for communications

Optical fibres made of silica glass have been the transmission medium for a high-speed optical communications market estimated to be worth $40bn globally.

All-silicon optical transmitter operates at 100Gbps

The performance of optical fibres is negatively impacted by attenuation – the scattering of light inside the glass – that causes a loss in transmitted power. According to the University, this power loss limits the performance of applications requiring shorter wavelengths.

In this new study, published in Nature Communications, researchers from Southampton University have demonstrated that guiding light through air-filled fibres offers a potential way to overcome this problem.

A team from the University’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) are said to have created three different hollow core fibres, with losses comparable or lower than that achieved in solid glass fibres around technologically relevant wavelengths of 660, 850, and 1060 nanometres. The lower attenuation, in a fibre that guides light through air, offers the potential for advances in quantum communications, data transmission, and laser power delivery.