Bell Labs Demos First Long-Distance Triple-Tb Transmission

MURRAY HILL, N.J., Mar. 20 -- Scientists at Bell Labs, the research and development arm of Lucent Technologies, have demonstrated the first long-distance triple-terabit data transmission. The researchers sent a record 3.28 Tb/s over 300 km of an experimental Lucent TrueWave optical fiber.
Bell Labs scientists used three 100-km fiber spans to transmit 40 Gb over each of 40 wavelengths in the conventional C-band frequency range and 40 Gb over each of 42 channels in the long-wavelength L-band range. The demonstration employed both dense wavelength division multiplexing and distributed Raman amplification.
This is a milestone on the road to super-high-capacity long-reach transmission, commented Alastair Glass, executive director of Bell Labs' Photonics Research Lab. It proves the practicality of 40Gb/s systems with repeater spacing typical of today's networks. The results were presented in post-deadline sessions at the recent Optical Fiber Communications (OFC) Conference in Baltimore.