High-capacity free-space optical communications using wavelength- and mode-division-multiplexing in the mid-infrared region

Kaiheng Zou (), Kai Pang, Hao Song, Jintao Fan, Zhe Zhao, Haoqian Song, Runzhou Zhang, Huibin Zhou, Amir Minoofar, Cong Liu, Xinzhou Su, Nanzhe Hu, Andrew McClung, Mahsa Torfeh, Amir Arbabi, Moshe Tur and Alan E. Willner ()
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Kaiheng Zou: University of Southern California
Kai Pang: University of Southern California
Hao Song: University of Southern California
Jintao Fan: Tianjin University
Zhe Zhao: University of Southern California
Haoqian Song: University of Southern California
Runzhou Zhang: University of Southern California
Huibin Zhou: University of Southern California
Amir Minoofar: University of Southern California
Cong Liu: University of Southern California
Xinzhou Su: University of Southern California
Nanzhe Hu: University of Southern California
Andrew McClung: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Mahsa Torfeh: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amir Arbabi: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Moshe Tur: Tel Aviv University
Alan E. Willner: University of Southern California

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Due to its absorption properties in atmosphere, the mid-infrared (mid-IR) region has gained interest for its potential to provide high data capacity in free-space optical (FSO) communications. Here, we experimentally demonstrate wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) and mode-division-multiplexing (MDM) in a ~0.5 m mid-IR FSO link. We multiplex three ~3.4 μm wavelengths (3.396 μm, 3.397 μm, and 3.398 μm) on a single polarization, with each wavelength carrying two orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) beams. As each beam carries 50-Gbit/s quadrature-phase-shift-keying data, a total capacity of 300 Gbit/s is achieved. The WDM channels are generated and detected in the near-IR (C-band). They are converted to mid-IR and converted back to C-band through the difference frequency generation nonlinear processes. We estimate that the system penalties at a bit error rate near the forward error correction threshold include the following: (i) the wavelength conversions induce ~2 dB optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) penalty, (ii) WDM induces ~1 dB OSNR penalty, and (iii) MDM induces ~0.5 dB OSNR penalty. These results show the potential of using multiplexing to achieve a ~30X increase in data capacity for a mid-IR FSO link.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35327-w

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