
Optical lens can transfer digital information without loss - dnetesn
https://phys.org/news/2017-07-optical-lens-digital-loss.html
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20after4
Yes, 36 bits or even more I would think.

It seems like they are suggesting that it's feasible to make fiber optics
which transmit a picture with extremely low distortion. So a single fiber
could carry an optical image instead of a serial bit stream while maintaining
nearly perfect clarity.

So you could potentially encode a lot of data (I would think a lot more than
36 bits) into a 2D pattern (like a QR code, essentially) which would enable
the transfer of large blocks of data in each frame of visual information.

Of course encoding & decoding the data would incur some overhead...

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orbital-decay
> It seems like they are suggesting that it's feasible to make fiber optics
> which transmit a picture with extremely low distortion. So a single fiber
> could carry an optical image instead of a serial bit stream while
> maintaining nearly perfect clarity.

If this is the case, it could be useful in many fiber array imaging
applications, not just data transmission. Endoscopy, special cameras like
Huygens' DISR etc.

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amelius
The title is confusing. Of course an optical lens can transfer digital
information without loss. The lenses in my glasses do this all the time.

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trevyn
Keep in mind that multiple wavelengths are already used in parallel in optical
signaling -- "Modern systems can handle 160 signals and can thus expand a
basic 100 Gbit/s system over a single fiber pair to over 16 Tbit/s." \-
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavelength-
division_multiplexi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavelength-
division_multiplexing)

~~~
roesel
Also keep in mind that running multi-mode communication brings a new set of
problems and challenges (dispersion, non-linear effects, ...) and thus the
"expansion" usually comes with some sort of trade-off for a successful
implementation (frequency of repeaters etc).

~~~
crispyambulance
The systems the parent cites are single-mode. You can run 160 wavelengths
through a single-mode fiber. This is done in optical transport systems for
"long haul". The wavelengths are close together just far enough apart to
accommodate the bandwidth needed for each channel.

Multimode fiber is used for short distances after demultiplexing the
wavelengths, typically in data centers.

Although I would not say that 100 Gb/s on a single wavelentgh is "basic" at
this point in time.

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bluejekyll
Can anyone describe the difference between this and standard optical
connections?

Is it saying that it would give a 36 bit bandwidth over that of today's
optics?

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tyingq
So theoretically, 36 bits at a time vs 1 bit for today's serial optical? Or is
that overly simplistic?

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murkle
So is there a picture of the lens somewhere? I don't see what shape it is.

