Optical coherent combining of high-power optical amplifiers for free-space optical communications.

Highly efficient coherent beam combining (CBC) of two very-high-power optical amplifiers (VHPOA) with applications to long-range FSO communications such as ground-to-space feeder links is presented. The CBC setup is designed to minimize the telecom signal degradation, with a polarization beam splitter used to minimize the power fluctuations and to control the output polarization state of the beam. The system delivers 80 W output power and is proven to be compatible with 25 Gb/s telecom signals with a less than 1 dB power penalty.

Free space optical communication receiver based on a spatial demultiplexer and a photonic integrated coherent combining circuit.

Atmospheric turbulence can generate scintillation or beam wandering phenomena that impairs free space optical (FSO) communication. In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a proof-of-concept FSO communication receiver based on a spatial demultiplexer and a photonic integrated circuit coherent combiner. The receiver collects the light from several Hermite Gauss spatial modes and coherently combine on chip the energy from the different modes into a single output. The FSO receiver is characterized with a wavefront emulator bench that generates arbitrary phase and intensity patterns. The multimode receiver presents a strong resilience to wavefront distortions, compared to a monomode FSO receiver. The system is then used to detect an analog modulation of an optical beam through a random wavefront profile to mimic the transmission of a signal on a degraded optical link.

Radiation-resistant erbium-doped-nanoparticles optical fiber for space applications.

We demonstrate for the first time a radiation-resistant Erbium-Doped Fiber exhibiting performances that can fill the requirements of Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers for space applications. This is based on an Aluminum co-doping atom reduction enabled by Nanoparticules Doping-Process. For this purpose, we developed several fibers containing very different erbium and aluminum concentrations, and tested them in the same optical amplifier configuration. This work allows to bring to the fore a highly radiation resistant Erbium-doped pure silica optical fiber exhibiting a low quenching level. This result is an important step as the EDFA is increasingly recognized as an enabling technology for the extensive use of photonic sub-systems in future satellites.

Theoretical explanation of enhanced low dose rate sensitivity in erbium-doped optical fibers.

A new theoretical framework is proposed to explain the dose and dose-rate dependence of radiation-induced absorption in optical fibers. A first-order dispersive kinetics model is used to simulate the growth of the density of color centers during an irradiation. This model succeeds in explaining the enhanced low dose rate sensitivity observed in certain kinds of erbium-doped optical fiber and provides some insight into the physical reasons behind this sensitivity.