China Tests 1,000-Kilometer Hollow-Core Fiber Link at 64 Tbps in Each Direction
China has successfully completed the world's first bidirectional real-time data transmission test over more than 1,000 kilometers of hollow-core optical fiber, setting a new distance record for the technology and demonstrating its potential for next-generation communication networks.
For the experiment, technicians assembled a 1,007.48-kilometer fiber link using more than 300 spools, each containing between two and five kilometers of hollow-core optical fiber.
According to the researchers, the test achieved simultaneous bidirectional signal transmission at 64 terabits per second (Tbps) in each direction for the first time.
This capacity is equivalent to transferring 160 4K movies, each measuring 50 gigabytes, in one second. The one-way transmission time over a distance of 1,000 kilometers was just 3.43 milliseconds.
Unlike conventional optical fibers, which transmit light through a solid glass core, hollow-core fiber carries signals through a gas-filled central channel. This design can reduce transmission latency by approximately 30 percent.
Compared with the best-performing solid-core optical fibers currently available, the new technology doubles transmission capacity and increases transmission distance by 60 percent.
The distance achieved in the experiment is also 50 times greater than that demonstrated in comparable previous hollow-core fiber transmission tests.
Huo Xiaoli, chief expert in next-generation information and communication technologies at China Telecom, said the experiment confirmed the feasibility of long-distance, high-capacity, low-latency optical transmission.
She emphasized that the technology can reuse existing transmission equipment, making it a promising option for future networks connecting computing resources and data centers.
As reported by SSTV+, the test in China demonstrated simultaneous bidirectional data transmission over 1,007.48 kilometers at 64 Tbps in each direction, with a one-way latency of just 3.43 milliseconds per 1,000 kilometers.
