Free-space communication with spatial modes of light

Lucas Gailele; Angela Dudley; Andrew Forbes

doi:10.1117/12.2505725

14 September 2018 Free-space communication with spatial modes of light

Lucas Gailele, Angela Dudley, Andrew Forbes

Proceedings Volume 10744, Laser Beam Shaping XVIII; 1074414 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2505725
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2018, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Current communication systems make use of polarization and wavelength multiplexing to increase transmission rates. To offer a further improvement, Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) modes (or Laguerre-Gaussian modes) provide an infinite dimensional space. In this work, Laguerre-Gaussian modes are multiplexed and de-multiplexed by means of two Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs), making use of both their azimuthal and radial degrees of freedom. Due to the orthogonality of these modes, a modal decomposition technique is employed to detect the transmitted modes. Here we demonstrate this concept by transmitting an image over a 150 meter free-space link. The free-space link is also characterized in terms of its optical turbulence.

Citation Download Citation

Lucas Gailele, Angela Dudley, and Andrew Forbes "Free-space communication with spatial modes of light", Proc. SPIE 10744, Laser Beam Shaping XVIII, 1074414 (14 September 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2505725

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