Chinese research team completes 3.2 Pb/s real-time bidirectional multicore-fiber transmission trial
DataNews Editorial Team
A consortium including the China Information and Communication Technology Group’s National Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Technologies and Networks, Peng Cheng Laboratory, and Fenghuo Fujikura Optical Fiber Technology has completed a real-time bidirectional transmission trial at an aggregate 3.2 Pb/s. The experiment used 10.3 km of 24-core multicore fiber and combined S-, C- and L-band spectral multiplexing with space-division multiplexing.
- The trial achieved 3.2 Pb/s aggregate real-time bidirectional transmission over one 24-core multicore fiber.
- The test used a 10.3 km fiber span and combined S-, C- and L-band multiplexing with space-division multiplexing.
- Real-time per-wavelength validation included 400 Gb/s in the S band and 1.2 Tb/s in the C+L bands.
- The technology could eventually support higher-capacity links between large data-center and compute clusters, but commercial readiness has not been established.
The China Information and Communication Technology Group’s National Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Technologies and Networks, Peng Cheng Laboratory, and Fenghuo Fujikura Optical Fiber Technology have completed a real-time bidirectional optical-transmission experiment with an aggregate rate of 3.2 Pb/s over a single multicore fiber.
The trial ran over 10.3 km of 24-core multicore fiber. Its architecture combined spectral multiplexing across the S, C and L bands with space-division multiplexing. The participants also validated real-time transmission at 400 Gb/s per wavelength in the S band and 1.2 Tb/s per wavelength across the C+L bands, using commercial coherent optical modules.
The source characterises the result as a world record for real-time bidirectional transmission capacity over a single fiber. It states that the system provides 32 times the aggregate capacity of an indicative approximately 100 Tb/s limit for commercial single-core G.652 fiber in the C+L bands.
For data-center infrastructure, the significance is the potential to relieve capacity constraints on future inter-data-center and compute-cluster links as AI-oriented workloads and large computing hubs scale. Multicore-fiber architectures, combined with wider spectral-band use, could increase capacity without relying solely on additional fiber routes.
However, the reported result is an experiment, not evidence of commercial deployment in data-center networks. The source links the technology to potential large-compute-hub interconnects, backbone transport and 6G transport, and says the work has been submitted to the Journal of Lightwave Technology as an invited publication. Commercial cost, compatibility with existing infrastructure, long-term operational reliability and deployment timelines were not provided.
As AI workloads, large-model training and data-center campuses increase demand for high-capacity backbone and inter-site networks, multicore fiber could offer a path to materially higher capacity per fiber. The result remains a laboratory trial rather than a confirmed commercial deployment, but it points to a potential future option for large compute-cluster and inter-data-center connectivity.
- IT之家 (IT Home) / ChineseSource →
This article was prepared by the DataNews editorial team based on the sources listed above.