Light speed

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UK team develops ultra-fast laser capable of delivering data rates needed for the next decade.

An ultra-fast laser built in the

has clocked up a data transmission rate of 1.36 terabits per second, in a breakthrough that could lead to a huge increase in the speed of broadband connections to homes and businesses.

The laser, which has been developed as part of the ultra-fast photonics collaboration project, is the forerunner of network technology that is expected to be widely available in 10 years’ time.

It was built by researchers at St Andrews University. Dr Tom Brown, a member of the St Andrews computer sciences team, said: ‘We have had to deliver a femtosecond laser with a pulse rate that was four times more than anything delivered previously. We believe it’s the highest repetition rate of any sub-100 femtosecond laser.’

The researchers argue that such devices will reach speeds of up to 100 terabits per second when ultrafast photonics technology matures. The maximum speed of existing digital subscriber line (DSL) networks is 100Gbits per second.

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