60 ms cross-continent

Sun Jun 21 16:09:21 UTC 2020

Mel Beckman <mel at beckman.org> wrote:

> An intriguing development in fiber optic media is hollow core optical
> fiber, which achieves 99.7% of the speed of light in a vacuum.
>
> https://www.extremetech.com/computing/151498-researchers-create-fiber-network-that-operates-at-99-7-speed-of-light-smashes-speed-and-latency-records

Here's an update from 7 years after that article which hints at the
downside of hollow core fibre:

https://phys.org/news/2020-03-hollow-core-fiber-technology-mainstream-optical.html

It sounds like attenuation was a big problem: "in the space of 18 months
the attenuation in data-transmitting hollow-core fibers has been reduced
by over a factor of 10, from 3.5dB/km to only 0.28 dB/km within a factor
of two of the attenuation of conventional all-glass fiber technology."

Tony.
-- 
f.anthony.n.finch  <dot at dotat.at>  http://dotat.at/
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