Development of Novel Receiver for Coherent Communications

This project is developing a coherent optical communications receiver in which the incoming signal is divided into multiple independent channels by a photonic lantern, the phase delay of each channel is measured, and the signal is reconstructed using digital processing to coherently combine the channels. The signal division is accomplished using a photonic lantern, in which the light is incident onto a large-core multimode fiber and then subdivided into a number of single-mode channels, each of which functions as a separate virtual aperture. The instrument under development will contain at least four channels and operate in DP-QPSK data format at 10 Gb/s. This work will develop techniques to coherently sum the channels in real-time and measure the effects of atmospheric distortion on this design.

This receiver architecture could enable simpler and less expensive optical communications receivers and enable more widespread adoption of next-generation laser communications. The multiplicity of independent channels within a single receiving unit, each functioning semi-independently, could ensure that data is not dropped due to interference in a turbulent environment. Furthermore, the increased acceptance angle of the design makes alignment with the target less challenging. This design could fill some of the roles of traditional adaptive optics and enable coherent communications in an environment with atmospheric distortion despite having no moving parts. NASA laser demonstrations could serve as a testbed for this technology.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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