Estimation-based mitigation of dynamic optical turbulence: an experimental study

Rahul M. Khandekar; Vladimir V. Nikulin

doi:10.1117/12.762395

13 February 2008 Estimation-based mitigation of dynamic optical turbulence: an experimental study

Proceedings Volume 6877, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XX; 68770C (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.762395
Event: Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering, 2008, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

Laser beam propagating through the atmosphere encounters dynamic turbulence, which creates spatial and temporal fields of the refractive index. The resulting wavefront distortions lead to severe performance degradation in the form of reduced signal power and increased BER, even for short-range links. To alleviate this problem, an electrically addressed liquid crystal spatial light modulator (SLM) can be used to correct the wavefront by dynamically changing the optical path delays. Application of Zernike Formalism reduces the complexity of calculation of the SLM control signals by approximating the required phase profile. A real-time wavefront correction procedure utilizing Simplex optimization by Nelder and Mead was previously demonstrated. The performance of such procedure could be improved by proper re-initialization to avoid sub-optimum solutions. Interference-based phase estimation is proposed for this task and its potential was demonstrated in a proof-of-concept theoretical study. This paper presents the modification in the previously developed system and the corresponding experimental results, which show dynamic correction of the phase distortions.

Citation Download Citation

Rahul M. Khandekar and Vladimir V. Nikulin "Estimation-based mitigation of dynamic optical turbulence: an experimental study", Proc. SPIE 6877, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies XX, 68770C (13 February 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.762395

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