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Lower Latency and Higher Data Rates with Hollow Core Fiber (HCF)

Back in May, I attended the inaugural UK Telecoms Innovation (UKTIN) Ecosystem Conference. One of the talks from Microsoft caught my attention as the speaker was discussing the advantages of Hollow-Core Fibre. While the video or slides from that presentation aren't available, here is another talk from Infinera, who are experts in optical technology.

In this talk, Geoff Bennett performs a reality check on HCF which is already being deployed in financial trading applications in the UK. Quoting from the talk description:

Conventional optical fiber, as “an asset that keeps on giving”, has served our industry incredibly well over the past 30 years but we know that there are fundamental limits on fiber capacity. In addition the popularity of low latency applications like financial services and gaming are demanding lower latency, which can become a problem for silica-based fiber because light travels at about two thirds of the speed through glass as it does through air.

Hollow Core Fiber (HCF) has been under development for over a decade, with the promise of far lower latency because the optical signal travels through air, rather than glass. A longer term goal would be to position HCF as a way to offer higher transmission capacity than conventional, silica core fiber.

HCF potentially increases capacity in two distinct ways. First, light is travelling in air, which is a linear medium as opposed to glass which is nonlinear. This could mean that transmit power and amplifier power could be increased, leading to higher capacity. Second is that propagation in air could mean a sufficiently low attenuation across a much wider range of wavelengths than silica core fiber.

This presentation explains how HCF works; gives a brief description of its evolution and the current commercial and manufacturing status; offers a first level approximation of how and when the benefits of HCF will be available; and looks at the impact on the “fiber ecosystem” of transponders, ROADMs, amplifiers, connectors, installation techniques, splice repairs and test gear.

The video of the talk is as follows:

The slides are available here.

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