All-optical retro-modulation for terabit-per-second free-space optical communication

Brandon Born; Ilija R. Hristovski; Simon Geoffroy-Gagnon; Jonathan F. Holzman

doi:10.1117/12.2290454

15 February 2018 All-optical retro-modulation for terabit-per-second free-space optical communication

Brandon Born, Ilija R. Hristovski, Simon Geoffroy-Gagnon, Jonathan F. Holzman

Proceedings Volume 10524, Free-Space Laser Communication and Atmospheric Propagation XXX; 1052405 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2290454
Event: SPIE LASE, 2018, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

This work puts forward new technologies for free-space optical communications, with emphasis on deployments between ground and aerial transceivers. The proposed system targets the challenges of these aerial-ground links by applying direct laser transmission for the ground-to-aerial active uplink and applying all-optical retro-modulation (AORM) for the aerial-to-ground passive downlink. It is shown that such a system can function with multiple ground transceivers, over wide service coverage, and one aerial transceiver, with low demands for its mass and power. The AORM architecture applied in the passive downlink implements glass S-LAH79 hemispheres for effective retroreflection and CuO nanocrystal semiconductor thin film layer for all-optical modulation on ultrafast timescale. The fabricated AORM architecture is demonstrated to have an system response time of 770 fs, which limits the aggregate data rate. Such a fast system response establishes the possibility of terabit-per-second data rates. Ultimately, these findings can lay the foundation for future laser-based terabit-per-second links between satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles, and high-altitude platforms.

Citation Download Citation

Brandon Born, Ilija R. Hristovski, Simon Geoffroy-Gagnon, and Jonathan F. Holzman "All-optical retro-modulation for terabit-per-second free-space optical communication", Proc. SPIE 10524, Free-Space Laser Communication and Atmospheric Propagation XXX, 1052405 (15 February 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2290454

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