Twisting light beams could increase internet capacity
JUN 28, 2013
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.027138
Nature : Much like automobile traffic, internet traffic has been growing exponentially and is threatening to overwhelm the network. Currently, data are transmitted via multiple beams of light of varying wavelengths traveling through fiber-optic cables. To squeeze more information into the cables, a group of researchers from Boston University and the University of Southern California has used the orbital angular momentum of light to change the beams’ shape. By twisting the light beams into various degrees of curliness, the researchers hope to be able to encode even more information and thus boost the internet’s traffic-carrying capacity.
© 2013 American Institute of Physics
