英国南安普敦大学Francesco Poletti团队实现了衰减低于每公里0.1分贝的宽带光纤。2025年9月1日出版的《自然—光子学》杂志发表了这项成果。
光通信的一个关键组成部分是在广谱范围内传输低损耗电磁波的合适波导技术的可用性。在过去四十年中，尽管进行了广泛研究，石英基光纤的衰减和频谱带宽基本保持不变——最先进的光纤可分别实现0.14 dB/km的衰减值，以及在低于0.2 dB/km衰减条件下提供26 THz的频谱带宽。
研究组报道一种具有空前传输带宽和低衰减特性的微结构光波导：实测衰减值在1550纳米波长处达0.091 dB/km，并在66太赫兹带宽范围内保持低于0.2 dB/km的衰减水平。与传统的固体玻璃芯不同，这种创新的光纤的特点是空气芯被精心设计的玻璃微结构包围，以引导光线。这种方法不仅减少了衰减和其他信号退化现象，而且还使传输速度提高了45%。此外，该方法在理论上支持进一步降低损耗和在更宽带宽放大器存在的波长下工作，或预示着远程通信和远程激光束传输的新时代。
附：英文原文
Title: Broadband optical fibre with an attenuation lower than 0.1 decibel per kilometre
Author: Petrovich, Marco, Numkam Fokoua, Eric, Chen, Yong, Sakr, Hesham, Adamu, Abubakar Isa, Hassan, Rosdi, Wu, Dong, Fatobene Ando, Ron, Papadimopoulos, Athanasios, Sandoghchi, Seyed Reza, Jasion, Gregory, Poletti, Francesco
Issue&Volume: 2025-09-01
Abstract: A critical component of optical communications is the availability of a suitable waveguide technology for the transport of electromagnetic waves with low loss over a broad spectral range. In the past four decades, despite extensive research, the attenuation and spectral bandwidth of silica-based optical fibres have remained relatively unchanged, with state-of-the-art fibres offering values of 0.14dBkm1 and 26THz below 0.2dBkm1, respectively. Here we report a microstructured optical waveguide with unprecedented transmission bandwidth and attenuation, with a measured loss of 0.091dBkm1 at 1,550nm that remains below 0.2dBkm1 over a window of 66THz. Instead of a traditional solid glass core, this innovative optical fibre features a core of air surrounded by a meticulously engineered glass microstructure to guide light. This approach not only reduces attenuation and other signal degradation phenomena, but it also increases transmission speeds by 45%. Furthermore, the approach theoretically supports further loss reductions and operation at wavelengths where broader bandwidth amplifiers exist, potentially heralding a new era in long-distance communications as well as remote delivery of laser beams.
DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01747-5
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01747-5