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A new development of fiber optics could make the Internet 100 times faster – by detecting twisted light in a spiral.
The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, can be used to easily improve existing networks and dramatically increase efficiency, scientists said.
Optical fiber cables use light pulses to transmit information, but for the moment, information can only be stored by the color of the light, whether the wave is horizontal or vertical.
By turning the light into a spiral, engineers effectively create a third dimension in which the light must carry information: the level of orbital angular momentum or spin. "It's like DNA, if you look at the double helix spiral," said Min Gu. From RMIT University. "The more you can use the angular momentum, the more you can carry information."
US researchers had already created a fiber optic that tweaked the light, but the Gu team is the first to create a detector of reasonable size able to read the information it holds.
Previous detectors had "the size of a dining table", but the new detector is the width of a human hair. "We could produce the first chip that can detect this twist and display it for a mobile application," Gu said.
The technology could be used to modernize fiber optic networks such as Australia's national broadband network – although the decision to reduce the use of fiber optics to copper wire remains controversial.
NBN Co is about to complete the network by 2020. However, the deployment represents a downgrade of the original plan – proposed by Labor – that would have already installed fiber optic cables directly into homes (called on-site fibers).
Instead, many households received the fiber up to the knot – which is cheaper but produces lower speeds. For optical fiber up to the node, the fiber optic cable extends only to a central point of the neighborhood and a copper wire connects that node to each home.
The original ADSL connections use an average of 2.5 km of copper wire per connection, the optical fiber at the node uses 500 meters, the optical fiber at the edge uses 30 meters and the optical fiber up to the site does not do not use it.
In January, NBN Co admitted that three out of four customers with fiber optics up to the node could not access the higher speed level of the NBN network.
General Manager Stephen Rue has revealed his intention to increase the number of fiber-optic premises to the curb, which uses less copper than optical fiber to the nodes.
Gu said his new research could still work with networks with large amounts of copper wire.
"We will certainly reduce this obstacle," he said. "We will make this transfer more efficient."
However, since new cables are needed to effectively twist light, any upgrade could involve replacing existing fiber networks.
In 2020, NBN Co estimates that 4.6 million households will have fiber optics up to the node, 1.4 million fiber optic curbside and 2 million fiber optic premises.
A spokesman said the network is "ready to face future demand", but that advances such as those demonstrated at RMIT will have to be accepted before they are operational.
"New communication technologies are continually being tested in laboratories for many years before they are released. They must be widely accepted by equipment manufacturers and network operators prior to operational deployment. "
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