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University of Illinois Transmits Record 57Gbps Through Fiber Optic Lines (digitaltrends.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Digital Trends: Engineers at the University of Illinois have set a new record for fiber-optic data transmission, breaking previous theories that fiber optics have a limit in how much data they can carry. The engineers transmitted 57Gbps of error-free data at room temperature. The group, led by Professor Milton Feng, improved on its previous work in 2014, when it achieved 40Gbps. The keywords here are "error free," which is what makes this research unique from others that claim faster speeds. Fang said, "There is a lot of data out there, but if your data transmission is not fast enough, you cannot use data that's been collected; you cannot use upcoming technologies that use large data streams, like virtual reality. The direction toward fiber-optic communication is going to increase because there's a higher speed data rate, especially over distance."
Engadget writes in an update to a similar report: "Reader Tanj notes that this is specifically a record for VCSEL (vertical cavity surface-emitting laser) fiber, not fiber as a whole."
Lousy article; no details. There is no such thing as error free, so what is the threshold? 1E-9?
Summary says:
breaking previous theories that fiber optics have a limit in how much data they can carry
In other words, fiber optics would have no limit in how much data they can carry, which it utterly bullshit. How someone could write that?