Coherent homodyne optical communication receivers with photorefractive optical beam combiners

The principles of operation and the results of performance measurements are reported of a new type of coherent optical receiver that used a dynamic volume index of refraction grating formed inside a photorefractive material to coherently combine signal and local oscillator light prior to photodetection. Because the refractive index grating is formed by the interference pattern generated where mutually coherent optical beams overlap, the receiver can automatically adjust to changes in angle of arrival or optical wavefront profiles which occur on time scales longer than the grating formation time. The grating appears stationary to high-speed phase modulation imposed on the signal beam and coherently diffracts local oscillator light into the signal beam direction. Performance measurements are reported for a prototype system that used two independent Nd:YAG lasers at 1.064 μm, an iron-doped indium phosphide photorefractive crystal, and a four-slot phase modulation signal format. A receiver BER of 10^-6 was obtained at received signal powers that corresponded to an average of 70 detected signal photons per bit at a source data rate of 50 Mb/s, 130 detected signal photons/bit at 220 Mb/s, and about 400 detected signal photons/bit at a 325 Mb/s source data rate. Quantum-limited operation corresponds to an average of six detected signal photons per transmitted information bit for this signal format