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Information carried on optical signals decays as it travels across a fibre network, meaning the signal has to be regenerated periodically to prevent data loss. At the moment this is achieved by converting the optical signal to an electrical one, slowing the network down.

However, researchers at Cornell University

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have discovered that transmitting the optical signal together with a continuous beam of laser light down a 30nm-thick nanowire, causes a regenerated signal to emerge at the other end.

This is down to a process which occurs when two signals at two different frequencies combine to create a third signal at a third frequency. This technique, called four-wave switching, causes the output signal to emerge exponentially stronger than the input signal, effectively regenerating it.

"What's significant about this work is that it's possible to vastly reduce the physical scale of the devices needed for regeneration of the signals," says David Richardson, a fibre optics researcher at the University of Southampton, speaking to the The New Scientist.

"It's compact and the power requirements are considerably reduced. The technique also offers the prospect of mass production."