Hollow-core fibre could reshape telecom's physical layer

Inside a high-frequency trading floor, where nanoseconds delineate gain from loss, or across the fortified corridors of a command network, data must traverse vast distances swiftly and securely.

- SHUBHENDU PARTH [OPENING NOTE]

Across much of the world, single-mode silica fibre has long served as the physical backbone of high-speed networks—a marvel in its time, but one now brushing against its physical limits.

The world now has its new contender: hollow-core fibre (HCF), which guides light not through glass, but through air.

Developed by researchers at the University of Southampton and Microsoft, the latest evolution—nested antiresonant nodeless fibre (DNANF)—has achieved a record-low attenuation of 0.091 dB/km at 1,550 nm. This surpasses the longstanding floor of conventional silica fibres, which rarely drops below 0.14 dB/km. By minimising leakage, surface scattering, and microbending losses, this design ushers in a new class of low-loss fibres suitable for both classical and quantum communication.