New and improved optical-fiber data transmission

New Scientist: : A team of optical engineers has found a way to circumvent attenuation in light signals that travel along optical fibers. David Richardson at the University of Southampton in the UK and his colleagues—whose results were published in Nature Photonics—have found a way to reverse the degradation process and re-create the original signal. In addition, whereas data have conventionally been sent as a series of on–off light pulses, the researchers propose to squeeze more data onto a stream of light by using the amplitude and phase of the optical carrier. The technique portends better web video, among other things.