Optical communication systems have traditionally sent the most information possible through a few spatial channels to minimize cost and maximize density. Energy constraints now compel systems at the longest and shortest distances to employ a new strategy of using more spatial channels, each carrying less data.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Multi-dimensional data transmission using inverse-designed silicon photonics and microcombs
Nature Communications Open Access 21 December 2022
-
Fast mode decomposition in few-mode fibers
Nature Communications Open Access 02 November 2020
-
Monolithic mode-selective few-mode multicore fiber multiplexers
Scientific Reports Open Access 01 August 2017
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Ip, E. & Kahn, J. M. J. Lightwave Technol. 28, 502–519 (2010).
Essiambre, R., Kramer, G., Winzer, P. J., Foschini, G. J. & Goebel, B. J. Lightwave Technol. 28, 662–701 (2010).
Chraplyvy, A. R. The coming capacity crunch. In Proc. European Conf. Optical Commun. 1.0.2 (IEEE, 2009).
Richardson, D. J., Fini, J. M. & Nelson, L. E. Nat. Photon. 7, 354–362 (2013).
Arık, S. Ö., Ho, K.-P. & Kahn, J. M. Opt. Express 22, 29868–29887 (2014).
Antonelli, C., Mecozzi, A., Golani, O. & Shtaif, M. Inter-modal nonlinear interference in SDM systems and its impact on information capacity. In 2016 IEEE Photonics Soc. Summer Topical Meeting Series 10–11 (IEEE, 2016).
Downie, J. D. et al. Quasi-single-mode transmission for long-haul and submarine optical communications. In Conf. Lasers Electro-Optics SM4F.6 (OSA, 2016).
Caves, C. M. & Drummond, P. D. Rev. Mod. Phys. 66, 481–537 (1994).
Li, G., Bai, N., Zhao, N. & Xia, C. Adv. Opt. Photon. 6, 413–487 (2014).
Turukhin, A. et al. 105.1 Tb/s power-efficient transmission over 14,350 km using a 12-core fiber. In Optical Fiber Commun. Conf. Th4C.1 (OSA, 2016).
Hempel, J. Inside Facebook's ambitious plan to connect the whole world. Wired (19 January 2016); go.nature.com/2gwzoaV
Miller, D. A. B. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.05510 (2016).
Heddeghem, W. V. et al. Comput. Commun. 50, 64–76 (2014).
Singh, A. et al. Jupiter rising: a decade of Clos topologies and centralized control in Google's data center network. In SIGCOMM '15 183–197 (2015).
Park, H.-C. et al. Opt. Express 20, B197–B203 (2012).
Farrington, N. et al. Helios: a hybrid electrical/optical switch architecture for modular data centers. In SIGCOMM '10 339–350 (2010).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kahn, J., Miller, D. Communications expands its space. Nature Photon 11, 5–8 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.256
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.256
This article is cited by
-
The physics of optical computing
Nature Reviews Physics (2023)
-
Multi-dimensional data transmission using inverse-designed silicon photonics and microcombs
Nature Communications (2022)
-
Fast mode decomposition in few-mode fibers
Nature Communications (2020)
-
Resonant electro-optic frequency comb
Nature (2019)
-
Monolithic mode-selective few-mode multicore fiber multiplexers
Scientific Reports (2017)