Although fiber optic cables have made data communication and transmission even faster than before, it is still subject to physical limitations and data loss. A new study has found a way to reduce signal loss from glass-based fiber optic cables.
Researchers from Penn State in the US and AGC Inc. in Japan recommend that the silica used in the manufacture of these cables be produced under high pressure conditions.
(Image: Photo by William Thomas Cain / Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA – SEPTEMBER 12: A fiber optic cable can be seen inside the “multisensory room” at the Elwyn Baring Street Center on September 12, 2002, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Signal loss in fiber optic cables
“Signal loss means we have to use amplifiers every 80 to 100 kilometers (50 to 62 miles),” John C. Mauro, professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State, said in a press release. . He also said that beyond that distance, signals are no longer “properly detected,” which is a major problem across continents and oceans.
The inevitable signal loss in glass fiber is due to Rayleigh scattering – scattering of light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation, due to imperfections in the atomic structure of the medium. Mauro notes the random presence of open porosity, or gaps, in the atomic scale. Rows used in the construction of fiber optic cables are made of pure silica glass.
“Historically, the biggest break was the discovery of the original optical fiber – how to get rid of the water in the glass,” Mauro said, noting that there was water. It includes the signal, especially the under-frequencies commonly used for telecommunications. But with a special technique based on the deposition of chemical valves, water can be removed from the silica fibers.
The existing methods for making fiber optic cables are made close to environmental pressure conditions.
Studying the effects of stress on the manufacturing process
Researchers performed molecular simulations to study the effect of stress in the manufacturing process, with the results of their study reported in the journal NPJ Computer Materials. According to the simulation, more than half of Rayleigh’s scattering loss could be cut down by pressure removing the glass.
The report explains that putting extra stress on the material makes it less heterogeneous. It also reduces the gaps in the atomic scale – making the material more homogeneous and less porous.
While the Penn State team was working on simulating the extra weight on the glass, Madoka Ono conducted the actual test on silica glass glasses and found that the results confirmed the simulation. Ono is affiliated with AGC Materials Integration Laboratories Inc. and is an associate professor at Hokkaido University Research Center for Electronic Science.
Mauro said in a Penn State news that the optimum weight was around four gigapascals (GPa). However, it is not a direct development to the fiber optic manufacturing process. To manufacture under these real pressures, they had to be formed and cooled under pressure at the rate of movement of the glass – when the glass is between its hardening and melting stages and appears as slow stuff. It needed a special room that held 40,000 feelings of pressure.
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