Recently, a paper entitled “Integrated Sensing and Communication in an Optical Fibre” from the research team of the Center for Information Photonics and Communications at the School of Information Science and Technology of the University, was featured on the cover of Light: Science & Applications (impact factor: 20.257), a top international periodical in the field of optics and one of the Nature Portfolio journals.

Optical fibre communication is the main artery of broadband communication networks, covering a variety of systems such as fibre to the home (FTTH) networks, metropolitan area networks (MANs), backbone networks, and transoceanic communications. With the advantages of low loss and large bandwidth, optical fibres can ensure the high-speed and low-latency data transmission. Integrating optical fibre sensing into optical fibre communication networks to develop its sensing function can not only monitor the safety of fibres, but also sense the status/changes of the underground environment in real time. Such integration can be widely applied in various situations such as digitization of the urban underground structures, safety monitoring of pipelines, and protection of metro lines.

Fig 1. Operating principle and results of integrated sensing and communication in an optical fibre

The corresponding author of the paper is Prof. YAN Lianshan from the School of Information Science and Technology, and the first author is HE Haijun, an Associate Researcher of the School.

Paper link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-022-01067-1