Circa 2009.
A 270-kilometre optical fiber has been transformed into the world’s longest laser, a feat its inventors believe will lead to a radical new outlook on information transmission and secure communications.
Engineering academics at Aston University, UK, are leading research into ultralong fiber lasers, to create a platform capable of delivering ‘next generation’ information transmission, including telecommunications and broadband.
When normal telephone conversations or data sent over the internet are converted to light in order to travel through standard optical fibers the signals lose around 5 per cent of their power for every kilometre that they travel. The signals then have to be amplified to ensure that they reach their destination, a process which creates background noise and affects the signals quality.