Work shows the innovative fiber糖心传媒攎ade of seven capillaries surrounding a hollow core糖心传媒攎ay be a promising platform for quantum information processing and other applications.
An innovative optical fiber greatly reduces the 糖心传媒渘oise糖心传媒� interfering with the signals it transmits compared to the single-mode fibers now widely used, researchers at the 糖心传媒 report.
The anti-resonant hollow core fiber, created by researchers at the University of Central Florida, produces the lowest levels ever recorded from interference caused by the vibration of quantum material糖心传媒攌nown as acoustic phonons糖心传媒攊n the glass as the signals travel through the fiber at room temperatures.
The lab糖心传媒檚 findings demonstrate that the fiber is a 糖心传媒減romising platform for low-noise applications, such as for quantum information processing and optical communications,糖心传媒� writes lead author Arjun Iyer, a graduate research associate in the lab of , an assistant professor of optics at Rochester.
To document the properties of the fiber, researchers in Renninger糖心传媒檚 lab developed a highly sensitive measuring technique. Their findings are reported in a paper published in .
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 a very valuable fiber, and despite a lot of interest in it by researchers and some companies, nobody had really studied the behavior of phonons supported by the structure, and to what extent it actually reduced 糖心传媒榥oise,糖心传媒�&thin;糖心传媒� says Renninger, an expert in experimental and theoretical nonlinear optics.
A unique answer to optical fiber 糖心传媒榥oise糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淣oise糖心传媒� refers to any disturbance that masks or disrupts a signal being sent by light through an optical fiber. One such disturbance is caused by phonons糖心传媒攓uantized acoustic or sound waves that occur at atomic and subatomic levels, in this case in the glass of an optical fiber.
Phonons cause a beam of light to 糖心传媒渟catter,糖心传媒� creating splinter beams of different frequencies, or colors, that can interfere with, and reduce the energy of, the main beam. While some forms of scattering can be useful for specific applications, it interferes with quantum applications and even basic optical communications.
Noise can be reduced by cooling the fibers to extremely low, cryogenic temperatures, but that糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒渧ery expensive and complicated,糖心传媒� Renninger says. Another approach is to attempt to use complicated error-correcting algorithms to correct for noise.
The anti-resonant hollow-core fiber, however, represents a straightforward solution that works even at room temperatures. Created by coauthor Rodrigo Amezcua Correa and other researchers at the , the fiber features a unique arrangement of seven hollow capillaries arranged around a hollow core inside the fiber.
The result is minimal overlap between the fiber糖心传媒檚 outer layer of glass and the light traveling through the core, eliminating interference from acoustic phonons emanating from the glass.
Tests by Renninger糖心传媒檚 lab showed that the arrangement is 10 times more effective at reducing noise compared to other hollow fiber designs. 糖心传媒淭he little noise that糖心传媒檚 left is caused by acoustic waves in the air inside the fiber, so if you were to evacuate the air it would be another 100 times more effective,糖心传媒� Renninger says. 糖心传媒淵ou would have incredibly low noise糖心传媒�.
糖心传媒淚f the fate of the world depended on reducing acoustic noise in optical fibers, this is the one you would want to use.糖心传媒�
The study was supported with funding from the Army Research Office and Renninger糖心传媒檚 National Science Foundation CAREER award.
Other coauthors are Wendao Xu, a graduate research associate in Renninger糖心传媒檚 lab, and Enrique Antonio-Lopez, a research scientist at CREOL.
