Binary phase-only filtering for turbulence compensation in fiber-coupled free-space laser communication systems.
Binary wavefront control in the focal plane (i.e., binary phase-only filtering) for partial compensation of atmospheric turbulence in fiber-coupled free-space laser communication systems is investigated. Numerical results from wave-optics simulations show that in an air-to-air scenario, the combination of binary phase-only filtering and centroid tracking provides mean fiber coupling efficiency close to that resulting from ideal least-squares adaptive optics, but without the requirement for direct wavefront sensing. This result suggests a simpler and less computationally demanding turbulence mitigation system that is more readily applied to tactical applications.
Space Vehicles Directorate, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom Air Force Base, MA 01731, USA. peter.crabtree@hanscom.af.mil
Peter
P
Crabtree
Charles L
CL
Woods
Jed
J
Khoury
Matthew
M
Goda