2.56Tbps data speeds?

A multinational team, led by USC with researchers hailing from the US, China, Pakistan and Israel, has developed a system of transmitting data using twisted beams of light at ultra-high speeds - up to 2.56 terabits per second, Product Design and Development reports.

To put that in perspective, broadband cable supports up to about 30Mbps. The twisted-light system transmits more than 85 000 times more data per second.

According to professor Alan Willner, the new platform could potentially be used to build high-speed satellite communication links, short free-space terrestrial links, or could even be adapted for transmission over fibre-optic cables, TG Daily notes.

Essentially, Willner and his colleagues used beam-twisting "phase holograms" to manipulate eight beams of light so that each one twisted in a DNA-like helical shape as it propagated in free space. Each of the beams had its own individual twist and can be encoded with '1' and '0' data bits, making each an independent data stream - much like separate channels on a radio.

According to The Bunsen Burner, researchers noted that the test conducted resulted in data transfer speeds 85 000 times faster than broadband Internet speeds, some of the fastest ever recorded.

The test was conducted by harnessing the power of light, which scientists manipulated in order to better facilitate the transfer of data. The present study saw a single beam of light carry 2.5Tbps carried over a distance of one metre, but the method could be adapted for long distance, say scientists.

Previously, it was revealed that beams with different orbital angular momentum (OAM) states - different degrees of spin - could be used to carry more data, and this new milestone builds on that idea, said researchers.

The researchers say their data transmission process gets around the need for bandwidth entirely, PC Mag writes.

That's because the twists in the twisted laser beams they use to ferry data through open space can effectively create the equivalent of a new data stream channel without the need for more bandwidth.

But don't expect to see twisted light WiFi hot spots any time soon. Earth's atmosphere interferes with the beaming of data via twisted light over all but very short distances. But it does work a treat in space, apparently, and the Pentagon's Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is reportedly testing twisted light as a means of communication between satellites.