Optical Approach Delivers Fast, Scalable Data Transmission

Microresonator soliton frequency combs have been shown to considerably increase the performance of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) techniques in optical communications. The technology could be used to develop efficient, highly scalable communication systems. WDM enables transmission of ultrahigh data rates by using a multitude of independent data channels on a single waveguide, with the information encoded on different wavelengths of light. Frequency combs are produced by continuously circulating optical solitons — waveforms that preserve their shape during propagation — in silicon based microresonators.

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