Stationary high-bandwidth experiments with a portable lasercom (laser communication) system were performed over a wide range of scintillation indices (< 0.1 to 1) at the Department of Energy’s Nevada Test Site in the summer of 2003. Active alignment was performed with a quad-cell tracking detector at the transmitter transponder and a conical-scan tracking beam at the receiver transponder. During good scintillation conditions, 2-km 10-Gb/s and 11-km 2.5-Gb/s capabilities were demonstrated at error-free bit-error rates over continuous intervals on the order of half an hour. The experimental transponder configuration, which had 2.5-cm transmit-side and 8-cm receive-side aperture diameters, is described and test results are presented. Modifications to the stationary beacon-tracking transponder system that support a semi-autonomous (aided-pointing), mobile, lasercom capability are discussed.
Preliminary experiments toward the implementation of Doppler spectral scanning differential absorption lidar (DSS DIAL) are described. In separate tests, CO2 laser pulses were reflected from either a ground-based retroreflector (36-km round-trip distance) or a retroreflector on the GEOS-3 satellite (approximately 2000-km round-trip distance). The returns were split into a reference channel and an absorptive gas-cell channel. The light was coherently detected with heterodyne receivers and analyzed. Results from the ground-based system produced data that matched expected values in one case but its repeatability remains to be determined. We are currently investigating the satellite-based system to assess the DSS DIAL technique.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.