April 22, 2025
Keio University
A research group at Keio University (President: Kohei Ito), led by Project Professor Yasuhiro Koike (Director of the Keio Photonics Research Institute, KPRI) and Project Lecturer Kenta Muramoto of the Keio Frontier Research & Education Collaborative Square (K-FRECS) at Shin-Kawasaki, has successfully developed a multi-core graded-index plastic optical fiber (GI-POF) capable of ultra-high-speed transmission up to 106.25 Gbps per core. This innovative technology enables the high-density, low-latency, and high-capacity optical communications essential for next-generation AI data centers.
With the recent rapid spread of generative AI, data centers responsible for large-scale computations require communication technologies with ultra-high capacity and low latency, far exceeding conventional standards. In particular, for AI processing that coordinates a large number of GPUs and accelerators, the performance of short-range optical communications connecting these devices is a critical factor, as it directly impacts the overall processing capability of the system.
To meet these needs, our research group has established a technology to create multi-core GI-POF in a single extrusion molding process. The multi-core GI-POF produced by this method not only achieves ultra-high-speed transmission exceeding 100 Gbps per core but also contributes to significant cost reductions by eliminating the complex multi-coring process required for conventional glass optical fibers. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that transmission using GI-POF significantly suppresses signal noise and errors compared to conventional glass optical fibers, indicating the potential to realize low-latency and low-power optical communications through simplified correction processing.
These results were accepted and presented as two papers at OFC 2025 (Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition), the world's largest international conference in the field of optical communications.
Please see below for the full press release.