Australia is researching technology that could make the internet 100 times faster.
Just imagine what would happen if internet speeds were 100 times faster than they are now. Exciting, right? And that's exactly what researchers from Australia are working towards – a breakthrough in fiber optic technology, paving the way for incredibly fast web browsing.
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According to a study published in the journal Nature Communications, scientists have discovered a new way to transmit information in fiber optic cable systems through twisted beams of light.
This allows light to carry more data than current methods of information transmission, and even better, implementing this new system will be much easier than you might think.
Current fiber optic networks are quite advanced compared to the previous copper cable data transmission. Fiber optics use light rays to transmit information from one location to another at impressive speeds.
However, current fiber optic cables have some drawbacks. According to The Guardian, existing networks often rely on the color and directional properties of light to transmit information. And while this seems fine with fiber optic networks consistently leading the race in data transmission speed, researchers from RMIT University in Australia believe they can do even better.
The new fiber optic system that researchers are developing directs light in a spiral pattern, allowing for the transmission of more data. Min Gu, co-author of the study, told the Guardian: "This model has a double helix shape, like a gene map, and by taking advantage of angular momentum, the network can transmit more information."
This new breakthrough is on a smaller scale than previous efforts to increase the efficiency of fiber optics, and researchers assert that it can be easily added to existing fiber optic networks to increase data transmission capacity.
And by the time the current fiber optic network becomes obsolete, both network operators and users can expect a high-speed fiber optic internet network around 2040.
