In the latest issue of Nature Photonics, scientists from Denmark, Sweden and Japan wrote that by dividing the data into a series of color packets, they can enable a single computer chip to transmit 184 billion bits of data per second within 7.9 kilometers through optical fiber cables, setting a new record for a single chip to transmit data as a light source, which is expected to lead to more excellent chips and improve the performance of the existing Internet.

In the latest research, Asbjorn Avada Jorgensen of the Danish University of Technology and others integrated optical elements on a computer chip, divided a data stream into thousands of independent channels, and transmitted these data simultaneously within 7.9km.

To do this, the research team first used the laser to divide the data stream into 37 parts, each of which was sent through a separate core of the fiber optic cable. The data in each channel is then divided into 223 data blocks, each of which corresponds to the unique part of the electromagnetic spectrum, thus creating a frequency comb. With it, data can be transmitted through optical fiber cables in different colors without mutual interference. They call the latest system “large-scale parallel spatial and wavelength multiplexing data transmission” system.

Jorgensen pointed out that although scientists had previously used large equipment to make the data transmission rate reach 10.66PB per second, this research created a new record of using a single computer chip as a light source to transmit data, which is expected to lead to the birth of a simple single chip, which can send much more data than existing chips, thereby reducing energy costs and increasing bandwidth.

Jorgensen said: “The global Internet traffic per second is about 1 PB, and the amount of data we transmit per second is twice that number. We have transmitted such a large amount of data with the help of optical cables that are basically less than one square millimeter, which indicates that the current Internet connection can go further.”

Jorgensen said that although this chip requires a continuously emitting laser and an independent device that encodes data into each output stream, these can be integrated into the chip, making the size of the entire device as large as the match box.