• corroded@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    2 days ago

    I totally get how this would be useful in imaging systems, but I’m not understanding how it applies to communications.

    The only thing I can think is perhaps carrying more modes through a multimode fiber? I never understood amplifier bandwidth to be a limiting factor, though.

    What communications systems use a wide bandwidth of light (300nm is a LOT) into a single amplifier?

    • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      20 hours ago

      In terms of industrial applications, the abstract states

      We have realized all-optical wavelength conversion for a more than 200-nm-wide wavelength span at 100 Gbit s−1 without amplifying the signal and idler waves. As the 32-GBd 16-QAM is the dominant modulation format of current optical-fibre communication systems connecting the continents on Earth, the Si3N4-chip high-efficiency wavelength conversion demonstrated has a bright future in the all-optical reconfiguration of global WDM optical networks by unlocking transmission beyond the C and L bands of optical fibres and increasing the capacity of optical neuromorphic computing for artificial intelligence.

      https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08824-3

    • pc486@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 days ago

      That’s a great question. My guess is the bandwidth comes from bonding those extra modes and from the lower signal-noise ratio. That lower SNR means they could modulate with more sensitive but faster modes.