Millimeter-wave photonic wireless links for very high data rate communication

From NatureAsia.com:

In this paper, recent progress in millimeter-wave (MMW) photonic gigabit wireless communication is reviewed. This technique is attractive partly because the MMW signal can be easily distributed from central to base stations through the use of a low-loss optical fiber. This radio-over-fiber approach facilitates the transmission of MMW signals. An MMW photonic transmitter, comprised of high-power photodiodes with integrated antennas for MMW signal broadcasting, is needed for signal generation only over the last mile. The development of several different low-noise optical MMW sources and high-power photonic transmitters and photodiodes for optical MMW wireless links is summarized. The performance of photonic wireless links with extremely high data rates (>10 Gbit s–1) developed based on these key components and using different modulation schemes is also reviewed. Finally, some advanced commercially available products and the prospects of a future gigabit wireless communication era are discussed.

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Graphene optical modulators could lead to ultrafast communications

From PhysOrg.com:

The team of researchers, led by UC Berkeley engineering professor Xiang Zhang, built a tiny optical device that uses graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of crystallized carbon, to switch light on and off. This switching ability is the fundamental characteristic of a network modulator, which controls the speed at which data packets are transmitted. The faster the data pulses are sent out, the greater the volume of information that can be sent. Graphene-based modulators could soon allow consumers to stream full-length, high-definition, 3-D movies onto a smartphone in a matter of seconds, the researchers said.

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Single atom stores quantum information

From PhysOrg.com:

A data memory can hardly be any smaller: researchers working with Gerhard Rempe at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching have stored quantum information in a single atom. The researchers wrote the quantum state of single photons, i.e. particles of light, into a rubidium atom and read it out again after a certain storage time. This technique can be used in principle to design powerful quantum computers and to network them with each other across large distances.

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Laser-guided matter waves

From PhysOrg.com:

Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that atoms can be guided in a laser beam and possess the same properties as light guided in an optical communications fiber.

The researchers’ work has implications for future quantum devices that require smoothly-guided matter waves, such as atom interferometers which need to sensitively measure the earth’s gravitational field for geo-exploration. Their paper is published today in Nature Communications.

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Beam me up … Quantum teleporter breakthrough

From PhysOrg.com:

The breakthrough is the first-ever transfer, or teleportation, of a particular complex set of quantum information from one point to another, opening the way for high-speed, high-fidelity transmission of large volumes of information, such as quantum encryption keys, via quantum communications networks.

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Researchers weight safety of quantum cryptology

From PhysOrg.com:

By using keys that are generated using quantum particles, the transmission of data can be guaranteed by the very laws of physics, according to researchers at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) in Belgium and the Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona in Spain. The laws of quantum mechanics state that observing a particle in its quantum state actually modifies that state, which means that in cases where quantum particles are used as keys in the transmission of data, ‘spying’ can be easily and immediately detected.

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New laser technology prepares to revolutionize communications

From PhysOrg.com:

As fiber optic technology continues to advance, it faces challenges from both its physical properties and its use of infrastructure. One emerging high-speed solution being developed at Stevens Institute of Technology uses lasers to transmit data through readily available open space, with the potential of expanding past the limitation of fibers into a system known as optical free space communications. Dr. Rainer Martini has overcome a number of free space challenges to develop a high-speed communications technology that is not limited by a physical conductor. With an optical system that is stable enough, satellites may one day convert to laser technology, resulting in a more mobile military and super-sensitive scanners, as well as faster Internet for the masses.

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A small quantum leap: New switching device could help build ultrafast quantum Internet

From PhysOrg.com:

The researchers can route quantum bits, or entangled particles of light, at very high speeds along a shared network of fiber-optic cable without losing the entanglement information embedded in the quantum bits. The switch could be used toward achieving two goals of the information technology world: a quantum Internet, where encrypted information would be completely secure, and networking superfast quantum computers.

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Quantum quirk contained: Discovery moves quantum networks closer to reality

From PhysOrg.com:

Researchers at the University of Calgary, in Canada, collaborating with the University of Paderborn, in Germany, are working on a way to make quantum networks a reality and have published their findings in the journal Nature. A similar finding by a group at the University of Geneva, in Switzerland is reported in the same issue.

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