'Twisted' Waves Could Boost Capacity of Wi-Fi and TV

BBC News reports that a striking demonstration of a means to boost the information-carrying capacity of radio waves has taken place across the lagoon in Venice, Italy.

The technique exploits what is called the “orbital angular momentum” of the waves – imparting them with a “twist”.

Varying this twist permits many data streams to fit in the frequency spread currently used for just one.

The approach, described in the New Journal of Physics, could be applied to radio, wi-fi, and television.

Read more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17221490