New research from the University of Dundee could pave the way for superfast communications technology and lead to significant advancements in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other medical conditions.
Theoretically, light particles can carry and transport infinite amounts of data between two remote places. This data is encoded into photon shapes, which pass through a communication channel and get decoded at the final point.
However, a problem occurs when the data encoded into the shape of photons becomes scrambled. This issue is encountered when the fibre is bent, looped or suffers small imperfections. This limitation was challenged by a new study performed by Dr Tomáš Čižmár of the University’s School of Science and Engineering.
We have been able to see images through the optical fibres for several years. Until now, however, this has been possible only in rigid instruments. The new results will allow us to see through flexible micro-endoscopes which is a major step forward.
Dr Tomáš Čižmár - University of Dundee
“My primary research is into the technology that will assist in understanding the functionality of the brain. There is only as much we can learn from sections of post-mortem tissues but our new technology can, for the first time, allow imaging processes such as memory formation inside living animals experiencing controllable sensory stimuli. Most importantly, we may be able to observe what happens when things go wrong during onset and progression of severe diseases such as Alzheimer’s.”
Previously, Dr Čižmár and his team had shown how a small, flexible strand of fibre optic cable measuring just 0.05 mm would enable physicians to access hard-to-reach areas of the human body in a minimally invasive manner.
The research is part of an ongoing study focused on the application of multimode optical fibres in endoscopy. The issue encountered in the past was that when light travels through the fibre the optical paths get scrambled, losing the image in the process.
The researchers then applied the idea of digital holography to figure out how the light are scrambled, and equipped with this information, could unscramble the light signals to retrieve the image.
Multimode fibres, which have the thickness of a human hair, enable many different shapes of photon states to pass via them, and when compared to existing advanced endoscopes, are orders of magnitude narrower. This facilitates imaging even via dense tissue layers and at the same time promotes only insignificant damage that can be easily tolerated by both humans and animals.
The research also holds a huge potential to resolve the capacity crunch - the junction where the internet will not be able to meet the demand for faster information. By certain estimates, fibre optics and cables that transport data to tablets, laptops and smartphones may reach their saturation limit within a period of eight years. By leveraging this estimation, data communication can be facilitated with nearly unlimited speed. This would ultimately have a major impact on many industrial branches worldwide.
“I have spent the last two years trying to eliminate the drawback we found,” continued Dr Čižmár. “The solution was in better understanding of the randomisation processes. With the most advance technology of computers and holographic displays we have made new studies of light transport, reaching a precision that was never possible before.
“We have found that there is surprisingly almost no chaos and that the optical pathways are almost perfectly predictable to distances in excess of one foot (sufficient for medical applications). This allowed us to predict how to unscramble light pathways in flexible fibres numerically.”
Professor Tomas Tyc from the Masaryk University and Dr Martin Ploschner, an ex-member of Dr Cizmar’s team currently working at Macquarie University helped Dr Čižmár in this study.
I find this research really exciting. Combining Dr Cizmar's experimental brilliance with my theoretical expertise resulted in fascinating results that will pave the way to great advancements in optical imaging.
Professor Tomas Tyc - Masaryk University
Dr Ploschner added, “It was fantastic to work on this project and to experience the mysteries of multimode fibre unfold first hand. I cannot wait to witness the many exciting applications emerging in the wake of this research.”
The study has appeared in the journal Nature Photonics.