English

Free space optical communication receiver based on a spatial demultiplexer and a photonic integrated coherent combining circuit

Applied Physics 2021-11-05 v2 Optics

Abstract

Atmospheric turbulences can generate scintillation or beam wandering phenomena that impairs free space optical (FSO) communication. In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a proof-of-concept FSO communication receiver based on a spatial demultiplexer and a photonic integrated circuit coherent combiner. The system collects the light from several Hermite Gauss spatial modes and coherently combine on chip the energy from the different modes into a single output. The FSO receiver is characterized with a wavefront emulator bench that generates arbitrary phase and intensity patterns. The multimode receiver presents a strong resilience to wavefront distortions, compared to a monomode FSO receiver. The system is then used to detect a modulation of the optical beam through a random wavefront profile.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2106.09464,
  title  = {Free space optical communication receiver based on a spatial demultiplexer and a photonic integrated coherent combining circuit},
  author = {Vincent Billault and Jerome Bourderionnet and Jean-Paul Mazellier and Luc Leviandier and Patrick Feneyrou and Anaelle Maho and Michel Sotom and Xavier Normandin and Herve Lonjaret and Arnaud Brignon},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2106.09464},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

8 pages, 7 figures