title: Ultrafast all-optical technologies for bidirectional optical wireless communications.
abstract: In this Letter, a spherical retro-modulator architecture is introduced for operation as a bidirectional transceiver in passive optical wireless communication links. The architecture uses spherical retroreflection to enable retroreflection with broad directionality (2π steradians), and it uses all-optical beam interaction to enable modulation on ultrafast timescales (120 fs duration). The spherical retro-modulator is investigated from a theoretical standpoint and is fabricated for testing with three glasses, N-BK7, N-LASF9, and S-LAH79. It is found that the S-LAH79 structure provides the optimal refraction and nonlinearity for the desired retroreflection and modulation capabilities.
authors.forename: Xian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Blago A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Hristovski
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Collier
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Geoffroy-Gagnon
authors.forename: Brandon
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Born
authors.forename: Jonathan F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Holzman
mesh_terms: D055096:Optical Devices; D055100:Optical Fibers; D013997:Time Factors; D059015:Wireless Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*