Spatial mode modulation of laser beams for optical communication

Author

Anderson, Betty Lise ; Pelz, Lawrence J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH, USA

fYear

1995

Firstpage

196

Lastpage

200

Abstract

A new channel for optical communication is described, in which the energy distribution among the spatial modes of a laser beam is modulated. The number and strength of the modes directly influences the spatial coherence of a beam, which can then be detected with a simple interferometer. The transmitter is an electric-optic device that allows one or two modes to propagate depending on the logic state. The distribution of the energy among the allowed modes is independent of the overall intensity, thereby giving another depth of multiplexing in addition to common schemes such as intensify and frequency modulation, polarization, and wavelength-division multiplexing, etc. We present an optical interconnection scheme by which the intensity carries the data and the spatial coherence conveys the address information on the same beam

Keywords

electro-optical modulation; laser beam applications; laser beams; laser modes; light interferometry; multiplexing; optical communication; optical interconnections; optical waveguides; electric-optic device transmitter; free-space communication; interferometer detector; laser beams; multiplexing; optical communication; optical interconnection scheme; spatial coherence; spatial mode modulation; spatial modes; Laser beams; Laser modes; Optical beams; Optical fiber communication; Optical interferometry; Optical modulation; Optical propagation; Optical transmitters; Spatial coherence; Wavelength division multiplexing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Devices, Circuits and Systems, 1995., Proceedings of the 1995 First IEEE International Caracas Conference on

Conference_Location

Caracas

Print_ISBN

0-7803-2672-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICCDCS.1995.499143

Filename

499143