• @corroded@lemmy.world
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    91 month ago

    I totally get how this would be useful in imaging systems, but I’m not understanding how it applies to communications.

    The only thing I can think is perhaps carrying more modes through a multimode fiber? I never understood amplifier bandwidth to be a limiting factor, though.

    What communications systems use a wide bandwidth of light (300nm is a LOT) into a single amplifier?

    • @pc486@sh.itjust.works
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      41 month ago

      That’s a great question. My guess is the bandwidth comes from bonding those extra modes and from the lower signal-noise ratio. That lower SNR means they could modulate with more sensitive but faster modes.

      • swab148
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        21 month ago

        I wanna know if I can plug my guitar into it

    • @pomfegranate@sh.itjust.works
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      41 month ago

      Honestly I have no idea how audio encoding works but I just imagined going from 80 decibels to 81 decibels (10x) and an audiophile losing his shit

    • @rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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      430 days ago

      When I was sort of an audiophile, my first steps were to switch from ALSA to OSS under Linux. I still think I heard the difference for music, and probably yes - because that was OSS without mixing.

      And I still think I hear the difference between FreeBSD newpcm and Linux sound stack. newpcm’s mixing is simpler (firefox starting, opening a sound device and music volume sharply dropping in half is not nice), but it seems to spoil the sounds less.

  • pelya
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    41 month ago

    Is 300 nm the diameter of the optical cable? This terminology breaks my brain, 300 nm is 1000 terahertz, which is unreasonably large for a signal bandwidth, it’s like one milllion Ethernet cables.

    • @FooBarrington@lemmy.world
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      101 month ago

      I’m only making assumptions, but I’d guess that 300nm is the range of frequencies it can amplify. AFAIK fibre cables are used with multiple “channels” by sending data with different frequencies at once. Say your signal range is centered around 850nm, this amplifier could amplify in the range of 700-1000nm.

      But I might be totally off, just guessing.