Alcatel-Lucent Sets Optical Transmission Record -- 155 X 100 Gbps

Researchers at Bell Labs have set a new WDM optical transmission record of more than 100 Petabits per second.kilometer (equivalent to 100 million Gigabits per second.kilometer). To achieve these record-breaking results researchers from the Bell Labs facility in Villarceaux, France used 155 lasers, each operating at a different frequency and carrying 100 Gbps.


The 100 Petabit per second.kilometer figure was derived by multiplying the number of lasers by their 100 Gbps transmission rate and then multiplying the aggregate 15.5 Terabit per second result by the 7,000 kilometer distance achieved. The combination of speed and distance expressed in bit per second.kilometers is a standard measure for high speed optical transmission.


Alcatel-Lucent said this record setting capacity represents sending the equivalent of 400 DVDs per second over 7,000 kilometers, roughly the distance between Paris and Chicago.


"There is no question that this record breaking transmission is a milestone in achieving the network capacity and speeds and a key step forward in satisfying the ongoing explosion in demand," said Gee Rittenhouse, head of Bell Labs Research. "This is a prime example of Bell Labs preeminent research and demonstrates the ability of our researchers to solve complex problems," he explained.


Two other notes about the demonstration:


The transmissions were accomplished over a network whose repeaters, devices used to sustain optical signal strength over long distances, were spaced 90 kilometers apart. This spacing distance is 20% greater than that commonly maintained in such networks.


The Bell Labs researchers also increased capacity by interfacing advanced digital signal processors with coherent detection, a new technology that makes it possible to acquire details for a greater number of properties of light than the direct detection method commonly applied in today's systems. Using this technique the researchers were able to effectively increase capacity by increasing the number of light sources introduced into a single fiber yet still separate the light into its constituent colors when it reached its destination.
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