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.
Reference:
Gailele, L.M., Dudley, A.L. and Forbes, A. 2018. Free-space communication with spatial modes of light. In: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications 2018, 19 - 23 August 2018, San Diego, California, USA
Gailele, L. M., Dudley, A. L., & Forbes, A. (2018). Free-space communication with spatial modes of light. SPIE. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10560
Gailele, Lucas M, Angela L Dudley, and A Forbes. "Free-space communication with spatial modes of light." (2018): http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10560
Gailele LM, Dudley AL, Forbes A, Free-space communication with spatial modes of light; SPIE; 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/10560 .
Presented at: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications 2018, San Diego, California, USA, 19-23 August 2018. Due to copyright restrictions, the attached PDF file only contains the abstract of the full-text item. For access to the full-text item, please consult the publisher's website.
