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Hollow Optical Fibres Can Now Process Signals

Posted by timothy on from the computer-is-the-network dept.

Ami_Chan writes: "According to Nature, researchers at Bell Labs have created a new type of optical fibre. This fibre is hollow, and can be tuned to different wavelengths of light using 'plugs of fluid' and temperature changes within the fibre. This allows the fibres to process signals as well as transmit them. The full article is here."

6 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. AMAZING! by EvilAlien · · Score: 4, Funny
    This has an amazing amount of promise. The implications of this technology are staggering.

    Now I just wish I wasn't all wacked out on a coke slurpee and sluggish from lunch so that I could think about the implications and actually say something intelligent.

    --
    perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
  2. but? by paradesign · · Score: 5, Interesting

    wouldnt this system be susceptable to distortion through vibration? if the line is bumped it would cause a shift in the fluid, if only a minute one, possiply distroying the signal. it would be interesting to se what measures bell labs has taken to account for this if amy at all.

    --
    I want 2D games back.
  3. This has significant ramifications by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    On the Lite-Brite product line.

  4. Denial of Service... by ioexcptn · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...with a heat gun. So all I have to do is heat the fibre up and completely destroy data integrity? Sounds like a great idea.

    --

    Intelligence is like four wheel drive, having it just means you'll get stuck in more remote places.
  5. Pump by totallygeek · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The story mentions fluid pumping. This means moving parts, which means more chance for failure. If the speed does not jump by several orders of magnitude, or the distance limitations disappear, I don't see why anyone would install the technology built around this.

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    Click here or here.
  6. How (I think) it works by lirkbald · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This sounds like it's based on the same technique used to make filters in the microwave band. By creating a transmission line with several appropriately spaced steps in the impedance, you can create a low-pass filter. With some more sophisticated branching of the line, you can make a high-pass or a band-pass filter. The technique relies on interference and reflection effects from the boundaries between the transmission line sections. I think they're doing the same sort of thing here; introducing fluid into the center of the line will change its refraction coefficient, which takes roughly the same role in the fiber that impedance does in a transmission line.