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.
Crabtree
Peter
P
Space Vehicles Directorate, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom Air Force Base, MA 01731, USA. peter.crabtree@hanscom.af.mil
Woods
Charles L
CL
Khoury
Jed
J
Goda
Matthew
M