光缆快速！每秒传输700张DVD(双语有声)

作者：hahaleaf 来源：沪江论坛 2011-07-19 07:00

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Single Laser Optical Approach Transmits 700 DVDs of Data per Second

光缆极速！每秒传输700张DVD

Whether it's for streaming Netflix or sharing files, we're gobbling up more and more data—and we want it faster. But even shooting data with lasers over fiber-optic cables has its limits. Because when you encode digital bits—ones and zeros—into an analog, optical signal, you're still limited by the bit-rate of your electronics. The standing record is about 100 gigabits per second.

无论是观看奈飞视频还是分享资料，数据量都是相当庞大的，人们对数据传输速度的要求也越来越高。但是即便是利用激光通过光缆传输数据也有速度上的限制，因为把数字位－0和1（俺的记忆中应该就是二进制。。吧。。。）－编码成模拟光纤信号的时候也受到电子电路比特率的限制。目前最高速度是100千兆每秒。

To get around that bottleneck, researchers skipped the electronic signal processing—and found a way to do it purely optically instead. Using that method, they were able to send data over a 50-kilometer length of optical fiber at 26 terabits per second. That's like sending 700 DVDs a second—the fastest ever recorded for a single laser. The research appears in the journal Nature Photonics. [David Hillerkuss, "26 Tbit s−1 Line-Rate Super-Channel Transmission Utilizing All-Optical Fast Fourier Transform Processing"]

为了突破这个瓶颈，研究人员跳过编码电子信号，转而发现一种编码纯光纤信号的方法。通过这种方法，研究人员可以以26兆兆比特每秒的速度在50千米常的光线中传输数据，就好比在一秒内发送700张DVD的速度——这是一束激光能达到的最高速率了。这项研究发现刊登在《自然光学》杂志上。

It is possible to transfer equivalent amounts of data with conventional technology, by bundling together hundreds of lasers—but doing it with a single laser is far more energy efficient. Of course, there's no telling when these transfer rates will make it to your living room. And whether they'll be fast enough for our future need-for-speed.

利用传统技术传输相同数量的数据也是可能的，把成百束激光捆起来就行——不过只用一束激光要来得节能得多。当然，什么时候家里也能有这样得传输速度那就很难说了。数据传输速度是否能满足人们日益增长的需求也不得而知。