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Free space optical communication utilizing modulating retro-reflectors (MRR) can greatly reduce the complexity of a system in both pointing requirements as well as the necessity for a laser transmitter at both ends of the link. Retroreflectors are susceptible to the same atmospheric turbulence effects of scintillation and beam wander of any laser communication system. An MRR link using an array (N>1) of retroreflectors is affected by self-interference of the return beams. This self-interference can create additional fluctuation that compound to increase the apparent scintillation of the received signal. Data were collected over a 1km outdoor path on the interference pattern returned from a pair of 7mm and 12.5mm retro-reflectors, with multiple spacing distances, in varying turbulence regimes with a 1550nm and 1070nm laser. The interference data of the retroreflectors were correlated with Cn2 data collected simultaneously over the same 1km horizontal path. Under weak turbulence, the self-interference fringes matched diffraction theory, under stronger turbulence regimes the self-interference fringes were either visibly reduced or completely destroyed. We also analyze the contrast of the interference fringes as a function of wavelength for varying turbulence regimes as well as the ability to measure Fried’s parameter from the retroreflector spacing and the returned self-interference pattern.
Conor Pogue,David Wayne,Brooke Myers,Martin Miller, andGalen Cauble
"Inferring path-averaged turbulence from the self-interference pattern of a pair of optical retroreflectors (Conference Presentation)", Proc. SPIE 11133, Laser Communication and Propagation through the Atmosphere and Oceans VIII, 111330H (10 September 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2531540
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Conor Pogue, David Wayne, Brooke Myers, Martin Miller, Galen Cauble, "Inferring path-averaged turbulence from the self-interference pattern of a pair of optical retroreflectors (Conference Presentation)," Proc. SPIE 11133, Laser Communication and Propagation through the Atmosphere and Oceans VIII, 111330H (10 September 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2531540