I still believe the most important finding from the article is the fact that the researchers have found a way to sustain distance light transfer.
This certainly is one of the largest constraints for rolling out fiber here in the U.S., since the nature of fiber does not lend itself well to long distances. At certain intervals, you will need an in-line amplifier. This is done via O-E-O (Optical -> Electrical -> Optical) signal regeneration. This can be pricey equipment for an optical carrier. It's this reason why smaller countries (Korea, UK, NL) have such great dark fiber networks, it's that much cheaper for them to roll out, due to the dramatic price decrease seen from short provisioning distances.
If the research here does in fact show a way to manipulate the light in a fashion that does not require an OEO transfer, then costs will be dramatically reduced, providing an incentive for massive dark fiber rollouts. What I imagine is a physical discrete device that utilizes polarizing filters, mirrors, and ADC monitoring circuitry to condition the original photon transfer, rather than analyzing it, and spitting out a new signal. This would create a light conditioner that may suffice for some of the work traditionally done by expensive amps.
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I still believe the most important finding from the article is the fact that the researchers have found a way to sustain distance light transfer.
This certainly is one of the largest constraints for rolling out fiber here in the U.S., since the nature of fiber does not lend itself well to long distances. At certain intervals, you will need an in-line amplifier. This is done via O-E-O (Optical -> Electrical -> Optical) signal regeneration. This can be pricey equipment for an optical carrier. It's this reason why smaller countries (Korea, UK, NL) have such great dark fiber networks, it's that much cheaper for them to roll out, due to the dramatic price decrease seen from short provisioning distances.
If the research here does in fact show a way to manipulate the light in a fashion that does not require an OEO transfer, then costs will be dramatically reduced, providing an incentive for massive dark fiber rollouts. What I imagine is a physical discrete device that utilizes polarizing filters, mirrors, and ADC monitoring circuitry to condition the original photon transfer, rather than analyzing it, and spitting out a new signal. This would create a light conditioner that may suffice for some of the work traditionally done by expensive amps.