FORWARD-LOOKING: Chinese fiber-optic giant YOFC has set a new world record for long-haul data transmission, pushing 51.3 Tb/s across 206.5 km of hollow-core fiber without any intermediate signal regeneration. The trial is the first field demonstration of a hollow-core fiber system capable of delivering 1.2 Tb/s per wavelength – on a live commercial cable, not a lab bench.
Conducted jointly with China Telecom and optical equipment maker Dekoli, the test ran on the world's longest cross-border commercial HCF cable. The result sets a new world record achieved without the signal boosters that long-haul fiber links typically depend on.
Unlike conventional fiber, which guides light through solid glass, HCF guides it through air. That structural difference matters: light travels roughly 1.5 times faster through air than glass, and the air core sidesteps much of the signal distortion that silica introduces over long distances. YOFC claims the technology delivers about 31% lower latency and 47% faster transmission speeds than conventional fiber.
The latency advantage isn't academic. YOFC already operates a trading link between the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges that achieves round-trip latency of under one millisecond.
