High-capacity free-space optical link in the midinfrared thermal atmospheric windows using unipolar quantum devices
Pierre Didier, Hamza Dely, Thomas Bonazzi, Olivier Spitz, Élie Awwad, Étienne Rodriguez, Angela Vasanelli, Carlo Sirtori, Frédéric Grillot
Abstract
Free-space optical communication is a very promising alternative to fiber communication systems, in terms of ease of deployment and costs. Midinfrared light has several features of utter relevance for free-space applications: low absorption when propagating in the atmosphere even under adverse conditions, robustness of the wavefront during long-distance propagation, and absence of regulations and restrictions for this range of wavelengths. A proof-of-concept of high-speed transmission taking advantage of intersubband devices has recently been demonstrated, but this effort was limited by the short-distance optical path (up to 1 m). In this work, we study the possibility of building a long-range link using unipolar quantum optoelectronics. Two different detectors are used: an uncooled quantum cascade detector and a nitrogen-cooled quantum well-infrared photodetector. We evaluate the maximum data rate of our link in a back-to-back configuration before adding a Herriott cell to increase the length of the light path up to 31 m. By using pulse shaping, pre- and post-processing, we reach a record bitrate of 30 Gbit s − 1 for both two-level (OOK) and four-level (PAM-4) modulation schemes for a 31-m propagation link and a bit error rate compatible with error-correction codes.