Japan has achieved a new broadband record, one that is 25% higher than the previous record set in October 2023, according to a new post from the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) that explains how the country’s primary national research institute for information and communications was able to achieve a transfer rate of 402 Tb/s as part of a recent research project. This speed was achieved on standard, commercially available optical fiber, the researchers noted.
The institute writes:
- “An international joint research team led by the Photonic Network Laboratory of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, demonstrated a record-breaking aggregate optical transmission bandwidth of 37.6 THz to enable a new data-rate record of 402 terabits per second in a standard commercially available optical fiber.”
- “This record was achieved by constructing the first optical transmission system covering all the transmission bands (OESCLU) of the low-loss window of standard optical fibers.”
- “The system combined various amplification technologies, some developed for this demonstration, including 6 kinds of doped fiber optical amplifiers, and both discrete and distributed Raman amplification.”
- “Novel optical gain equalizers also allowed access to new wavelength bands that are not yet utilized in deployed systems. The newly developed technology is expected to make a significant contribution to expand the communication capacity of the optical communication infrastructure as future data services rapidly increase demand.”
A table comparing previous wideband transmission demonstrations:
The NICT added:
It is expected that the data-rate of optical transmission systems required to enable “Beyond 5G” information services will increase enormously. New wavelength regions enable deployed optical fiber networks to perform higher data-rate transmission and extend the useful life of existing network systems. It is also anticipated that new bands can address the increasing demand of next generation communications services by combining with new types of optical fibers.