A new scientific manuscript was accepted in IEEE Xplore with contributors from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Université de Paris, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and RTU Institute of Telecommunications – Xiondan Pang, Toms Salgals, Sandis Spolitis, Oskars Ozolins and Vjaceslavs Bobrovs.
What is the paper about?
Free-space optics (FSO) in the mid-infrared (mid- IR) contains rich spectral resources for future ultrahigh-speed wireless communications yet is currently under-exploited. Two atmospheric transmission windows at the mid-IR, namely, the mid-wave IR (MWIR, 3-5 µm) and the long-wave IR (LWIR, 8-12 µm), show great potential in supporting free-space communications for both terrestrial and space application scenarios. Particularly, the LWIR signal with a longer wavelength has high intrinsic robustness against aerosols’ scattering and turbulence-induced scintillation and beam broadening effects, which are the main concerns hindering the wide deployment of practical FSO systems. In this context, high-bandwidth semiconductor-based mid-IR FSO transceivers will be desirable to meet the requirements of low energy consumption and small footprints for large-volume development and deployment. Quantum cascade devices, including quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) and quantum cascade detectors (QCDs), appear promising candidates to fulfill this role. In this work, we report a high-speed LWIR FSO transmission demonstration with a 9.6-µm directly-modulated (DM)-QCL and a fully passive QCD without any active cooling or bias voltage. Up to 8 Gb/s, 10 Gb/s, and 11 Gb/s signal transmissions are achieved when operating the DM- QCL at 10°C, 5°C, and 0°C, respectively. These results indicate a significant step towards an envisioned fully-connected mid-IR FSO solution empowered by the quantum cascade semiconductor devices.
More information about the manuscript can be found on the IEEE Xplore webpage.
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