A new fiber developed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) can transmit data as efficiently as a glass fiber, but with some advantages over it. The fiber is not much larger than a human hair and does not require any special expensive equipment to operate. Until now, glass fiber cables have been the dominant technology for fast data transmission over longer distances. However, new research shows that liquids have the potential to be just as good as glass fibers and offer advantages that may make glass fibers completely unnecessary in the future. This is where so-called liquid-core fibers come in.
Glas fiber cables have an inner core made of glass. This can break when bent or under tension. Repairing fibers with such a core is very expensive. For shorter distances, fibers with solid plastic cores are used, which are more flexible but react to tension like glass fibers. A Swiss company has now developed a new type of fiber with an alternative inner core that does not have these weaknesses. The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) in St. Gallen has developed a fiber with a liquid core made of glycerin, whose sheath is made of fluoropolymer. This fiber transmits data as fast as a glass fiber, but is more flexible and robust than a glass fiber.
The Empa team, led by Rudolf Hufenus, stretched the fiber and found that it can withstand a stretch of up to ten percent. When the tension subsides, the fiber returns to its original length. Hufenus’ team also developed a machine that produces fibers. This makes Empa the world leader, according to their own statements. The developers of the new fiber believe that the liquid-core fiber can also be used for other purposes. “We expect our liquid-filled fibers to be used not only for signal transmission and sensing, but also for power transmission in micro-motorics and micro-hydraulics,” explains Hufenus. “The composition of the sheath and core can be adapted to the requirements of an application.”
