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All-optical retro-modulation for terabit-per-second free-space optical communication Born, Brandon; Geoffroy-Gagnon, Simon; Holzman, Jonathan; Hristovski, Ilija

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

Item Metadata

Title
All-optical retro-modulation for terabit-per-second free-space optical communication
Creator
Born, Brandon; Geoffroy-Gagnon, Simon; Holzman, Jonathan; Hristovski, Ilija
Publisher
SPIE
Date Issued
2018-02-15
Description
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
Subject
free-space optical communication; all-optical devices; nanomaterials; terabit-per-second modulation; geometric optical design; ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy; retroreflection
Genre
Conference Paper
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2021-03-30
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0396425
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/77667
Affiliation
Applied Science, Faculty of; Engineering, School of (Okanagan)
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).
Publisher DOI
10.1117/12.2290454
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Copyright Holder
Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International