By Peter Weiss
Speeding up the Internet and other long-distance data networks is an expensive proposition. To reach planned transmission rates of 40 billion bits per second (Gb/s)–up from today’s maximum rate of 10 Gb/s–telecommunications companies would have to install a new generation of optical cables that retain the quality of fast signals better than existing cables do.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2003/01/2308.jpg?resize=104%2C150&ssl=1)
Now, researchers have developed a liquid-crystal gadget that sits on the end of a hair-thin optical fiber of the type currently installed underground and corrects the worst signal damage that such a fiber inflicts, says John A. Rogers of Bell Labs’ Lucent Technologies in Murray Hill, N.J.