I am a proud Boston University graduate. It never ceases to amaze me what type of students and professors the university attracts (having Elie Wiesel on staff back in the mid-90s was one of the things that really caught my eye when I was looking at colleges). I often read the University publications because I am fascinated by the research that the professors are doing. Their research is life- and world-changing.

That’s why I wanted to share this recent article about a BU College of Engineering associate professor, Siddharth Ramachandran, who has developed a new fiber-optic technology that can transmit vastly greater amounts of data at very low cost.

The research could boost fiber optic data rates considerably by using donut-shaped laser light beams called optical vortices. In an optical vortex, the light twists like a tornado as it moves along the beam path, rather than in a straight line.

As more and more people constantly download and stream data on their phones, tablets, PCs and whatever the next device may be, the speed and capabilities of the Internet infrastructure are going to continue to be a concern. Perhaps Ramachandran’s research will solve those problems—at least until we find new needs to use data at the speed of light.