Hollow-core fibre loss measured below 0.1 dB/km in 2025 Nature Photonics paper
What was demonstrated
Researchers led by Marco Petrovich and Francesco Poletti reported a measured loss of 0.091 dB/km at 1550 nm for an antiresonant hollow-core fibre, in which light is guided through an air channel rather than solid glass. The preprint abstract says loss stayed below 0.2 dB/km across a 66 THz window, compared with 0.14 dB/km and 26 THz for existing technology. The peer-reviewed version appeared in Nature Photonics under the title 'Broadband optical fibre with an attenuation lower than 0.1 decibel per kilometre'.
Why it matters
Lower loss would mean a light signal can travel further before it needs amplifying, which could reduce the number of amplifier sites on long links. This is a single laboratory fibre measurement, so its effect on real telecom or data-centre networks is not yet shown.
Caveats
- The 0.091 dB/km figure is a measurement on a research fibre, not a published product specification for installed cable.
- The figures in this record come from the 2025 arXiv preprint abstract. The Crossref metadata record for the Nature Photonics article carries the same values, but the peer-reviewed full text could not be opened (the publisher page redirects to a login), so the published text itself has not been checked.
- The abstract does not address manufacturing at scale, cost, connectors, splicers or amplifiers, which determine whether low loss can be used in networks.
Technology profiles
Sources
- peer reviewed paper
Broadband optical fibre with an attenuation lower than 0.1 decibel per kilometre
Marco Petrovich, Eric Numkam Fokoua, Yong Chen et al.. Nature Photonics, 1 Sept 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01747-5. - preprint
First broadband optical fibre with an attenuation lower than 0.1 decibel per kilometre
Marco Petrovich, Eric Numkam Fokoua, Yong Chen et al.. arXiv, 27 Mar 2025.
Last reviewed 21 Oct 2026.