Experimental verification and theory for an eight-element multiple-aperture equal-gain coherent laser receiver for laser communications
- 20 July 1998
- journal article
- Published by Optica Publishing Group in Applied Optics
- Vol. 37 (21), 4782-4788
- https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.37.004782
Abstract
The detection and processing of laser communication signals are affected by the fading induced onto these signals by atmospheric turbulence. One method of reducing this fading is to use an array of detectors in which each of the detector outputs are added together coherently. We present experimental verification and theory of a 1.06 μm eight-element coherent receiver used to mitigate the effects of fading over a 1-km outdoor range. The carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) was measured on a single channel and was then compared with the CNR obtained from the coherent sum of the eight channels. The increase of the mean CNR for the coherent sum as compared with a single aperture was observed proportional to the number of the apertures under different conditions of atmospheric turbulence. The measured mean CNR gain fitted the theoretical prediction well when the laser intensity fluctuations followed the gamma distribution.Keywords
This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- Coherent optical array receivers for the mitigation of atmospheric turbulence and speckle effectsApplied Optics, 1996
- Optical scintillations and fade statistics for a satellite-communication systemApplied Optics, 1995
- Experimental demonstration of an optical phased array antenna for laser space communicationsApplied Optics, 1994
- Demonstration of a low bandwidth 1.06 mu m optical phase-locked loop for coherent homodyne communicationIEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 1990
- Fast frequency tuning and phase locking of diode-pumped Nd:YAG ring lasersOptics Letters, 1988
- Elimination of drift in a single-mode optical fiber interferometer using a piezoelectrically stretched coiled fiberApplied Optics, 1980
- Coherent detection SNR of an array of detectorsApplied Optics, 1976
- Optical heterodyne detection of an atmospherically distorted signal wave frontProceedings of the IEEE, 1967
- Laser phase-locked loopProceedings of the IEEE, 1965