*Today fiber optic cables are made of thousands of hair thin fiber threads made of solid glass, the average one loses about half their light every 15 km, 20 km for the very best. A start-up company called "Lumenisity", which Microsoft bought in 2022, has invented a new type of tiny optical fiber that is not hollow but has a much more complex interior structure made of a series of even smaller concentric cylinders. The cross section looks like this: *
[image: image.png] *This new design only loses half its light every 33 km, can transmit 1000 times more power than a solid fiber, has a wide frequency range, and perhaps most important of all can transmit a signal 45% faster than a solid glass fiber. Microsoft believes it can mass produce this fiber at a competitive price. * *It's interesting, Microsoft had a reputation of being a stodgy old company and Apple the fast-moving creative one, but Microsoft embraced AI early on and as a result it owns 49% of OpenAI, but for years Apple did nothing in AI and is now playing catch-up. Microsoft is also a leader in the race to build a quantum computer but Apple has ignored the entire field. And now we have this which may revolutionize optical communication. * *The following article is from the September 1, 2025 issue of the journal Naturephotonics:* *Broadband optical fibre with an attenuation lower than 0.1 decibel per kilometre <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01747-5>* *John K Clark See what's on my new list at Extropolis <https://groups.google.com/g/extropolis>* *3nn* 4g2 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv3gTq930zVC9xWuViqMAnaPPg%3DgebbUBmLOgz4GaK3dXg%40mail.gmail.com.
