Justin Kahn
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Researchers in Denmark have now broken the world record for the fastest single-laser data transfer ever recorded. Using a new kind of optical fiber, the research group at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) recorded a transfer rate of 43 terabits per second over a single fiber with one laser transmitter.
43Tbps is about the same as moving nearly five and a half terabytes of data in one second, or equivalent to transferring the contents of a 1TB hard drive in a fifth of a second.
The team at DTU originally set the record in 2009, before the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology took the single fiber/single-laser record from them in 2011 clocking a transfer speed of 26 terabits per second. While at nearly double that speed now, DTU had its hands on some technology that wasn't really available to either parties until somewhat recently.
The team used a kind of multi-core fiber, which allows for multiple data streams to pass simultaneously. The fiber is a 7 core solution created by the Japanese internet giant NTT, who, according to reports, is looking to deploy the technology commercially.
While we have seen speed benchmarks like this is the past, what makes DTU's research so notable is because of the use of a single-laser and single fiber set-up. The team took back the world record with a set up that is very similar to what we see in commercial applications today.
Much faster transfer rates have been recorded using multiple fibers and lasers, some as high as thousands of terabits per second, but are generally not practical set-ups that could get implemented in real life any time soon.
While chances are we wont be beaming massive files in the blink of an eye by the end of the year anyway, the team at DTU is at least working on major advancements with tech that could actually be used one day.
Image via Shutterstock
