Optical Sciences: Molecules of Light
Researchers at the University of Rostock in Germany have made the world's first molecules of light, which might allow a significant increase in the data transfer rate of fiber optical systems. The molecules are built of solitons, pulses of light that do not dissipate or easily lose their shape like most other types of pulses. Solitons are useful for transmitting information because the signals can travel over long distances without degrading.
Solitons are waves that can have characteristics similar to material particles, like electrons and billiard balls. The researchers claim that this is the first time anyone has made solitons stick together to form structures analogous to molecules.
Fiber optical systems transmit information by sending light signals through a fiber as a combination of zeros (dark) and ones (light). The data transfer rate for binary coding is fast approaching its fundamental limits, but it may be possible to bypass the limit by transmitting information as zeros, ones, and twos with soliton molecules representing the number two.
posted by Fergie @ 10/12/2005 01:59:00 PM
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