Optical fiber can not only transmit data, Japanese researchers set a record for 14km long-distance optical fiber power supply

CTOnews.com, August 31, Japan (NTT) and Hokkaido National University (Hokkaido National University) recently successfully set a record for 14 kilometers of long-distance power supply through a single optical fiber cable. Due to the limitation of light intensity inside the optical fiber, the power supply distance can only be up to two kilometers in the past.

Touyuan Pixabay researchers have successfully provided more than 1 watt of power within a distance of 14 kilometers, in addition to high-speed data exchange. This result opens up new avenues for disaster relief and power transmission in remote areas without the need for complex power infrastructure.

According to CTOnews.com, the feat leverages NTT's Multi-Core Optical Fiber (MCF), a technology that maintains compatibility with existing optical infrastructure through its 125micron diameter standard glass. But because it is multi-core (meaning there are multiple separate fibers in standard glass), each core can be used for different purposes. In order to maximize power supply efficiency, it may be necessary to use multiple cores for power supply.

The scientists injected a light source with a wavelength of 1550 nm into all four optical fiber cores, two of which were injected into another light source with a wavelength of about 1310 nm for data transmission, on which both downlink and uplink data (10 Gbps) can be carried. Finally, the researchers successfully transmitted about 1 W of power over a distance of 14 km, setting a world record of 14 W / km for an optical power supply system.

In the past few years, photonics technology has made a lot of progress, and this special research has realized long-distance energy transmission as well as wired communication. This is a very simple and cost-effective low-power remote power supply solution, which will certainly be used in the future.