High-Speed Visible Light Communications Using Individual Pixels in a Micro Light-Emitting Diode Array

Author

McKendry, Jonathan J D ; Green, Richard P. ; Kelly, A.E. ; Gong, Zheng ; Guilhabert, Benoit ; Massoubre, David ; Gu, Erdan ; Dawson, Martin D.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Photonics, Univ. of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

Volume

22

Issue

18

fYear

2010

Firstpage

1346

Lastpage

1348

Abstract

The high-frequency modulation of individual pixels in III-nitride-based micro-pixel light-emitting diode arrays, where each array consists of 16 × 16 individually addressable 72-μm-diameter pixels, are reported. The devices investigated have peak emission wavelengths at 370, 405, and 450 nm, respectively. The optical -3-dB modulation bandwidth of a typical pixel from the 450-nm-emitting device was found to be approximately 245 MHz. Data transmission at rates of up to 1 Gb/s is demonstrated from a single pixel emitting at 450 nm, using on-off keying nonreturn-to-zero modulation, with a bit-error ratio of less than 1 × 10^-10. Such devices have potential for free-space or fiber-coupled visible light communications.

Keywords

light emitting diodes; optical communication; III-nitride-based micro-pixel light-emitting diode arrays; bit rate 1 Gbit/s; bit-error ratio; data transmission; fiber-coupled visible light communications; frequency 245 MHz; high-frequency modulation; high-speed visible light communications; micro light-emitting diode array; size 72 mum; wavelength 370 nm; wavelength 405 nm; wavelength 450 nm; Bandwidth; Data communication; High speed optical techniques; Light emitting diodes; Optical arrays; Optical devices; Optical fiber communication; Optical fiber devices; Optical modulation; Stimulated emission; Bandwidth; GaN; micro light-emitting diodes (micro-LEDs); modulation; polymer optical fiber (POF); white light-emitting diode (LED);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2010.2056360

Filename

5504118