Lasers enable internet backbone via satellite

Using lasers, scientists have transmitted several terabits of data per second, despite a huge amount of disruptive air turbulence, between the Jungfraujoch mountain peak and the Swiss capital, Bern. This will soon eliminate the need for expensive deep-​sea cables, researchers from Swiss federal technology institute ETH Zurich said in a statement on Tuesday. The backbone of the internet is formed by a dense network of fibre-​optic cables, each of which transports up to more than 100 terabits of data per second (1 terabit is 1,012 digital 1/0 signals) between the network nodes. The connections between continents take place via deep sea networks – which is an enormous expense: a single cable across the Atlantic requires an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. Soon, however, this expense may drop substantially. Scientists at ETH Zurich, working together with partners from the space industry, have demonstrated terabit optical data transmission through the air in a European...