System calibration for single-wavelength multi-terabit mode-division multiplexing free-space optical communication systems

Yiming Li; Gil Fernandes; David Benton; Antonin Billaud; Marco Fernandes; Mohammed Patel; Fernando Guiomar; Andrew Ellis

doi:10.1364/oe.569397

System calibration for single-wavelength multi-terabit mode-division multiplexing free-space optical communication systems

Yiming Li
, Gil Fernandes
, David Benton
, Antonin Billaud
, Marco Fernandes
, Mohammed Patel
, Fernando Guiomar
, Andrew Ellis

University of Aveiro
Cailabs
Aston University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (SciVal)

4 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a optical calibration strategy to support a single-wavelength mode-division multiplexing multiple-input multiple-output free-space optical communication system utilising 6 Hermite-Gaussian modes. To minimise the inter-mode crosstalk, higher-order modes at the receiver were exploited to calibrate the optical setup. The signal distortions were minimised for 80 GBaud signals by employing Volterra pre-distortion. Probabilistically-shaped 256-QAM signals were transmitted to maximise the achievable information rate. As a result, this system obtained a record-high achievable information rate of 4.49 Tbit/s/λ in free-space optical communications.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	38898-38908
Number of pages	11
Journal	Optics Express
Volume	33
Issue number	18
Early online date	4 Sept 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.569397
Publication status	Published - 8 Sept 2025

Bibliographical note

Published by Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Funding

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/T009047/1, EP/S003436/1, EP/S016171/1); European Regional Development Fund (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-022141); Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PTDC/EEI-TEL/2697/2021, 2022.07168.CEECIND); H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (10100828, 713694).

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10.1364/oe.569397Licence: CC BY 4.0

System calibration for single-wavelength multi-terabit mode-division multiplexing free-space optical communication systems
Published by Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
Final published version, 4.79 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

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abstract = "In this paper, we propose a optical calibration strategy to support a single-wavelength mode-division multiplexing multiple-input multiple-output free-space optical communication system utilising 6 Hermite-Gaussian modes. To minimise the inter-mode crosstalk, higher-order modes at the receiver were exploited to calibrate the optical setup. The signal distortions were minimised for 80 GBaud signals by employing Volterra pre-distortion. Probabilistically-shaped 256-QAM signals were transmitted to maximise the achievable information rate. As a result, this system obtained a record-high achievable information rate of 4.49 Tbit/s/λ in free-space optical communications.",

author = "Yiming Li and Gil Fernandes and David Benton and Antonin Billaud and Marco Fernandes and Mohammed Patel and Fernando Guiomar and Andrew Ellis",

note = "Published by Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.",

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AU - Li, Yiming

AU - Fernandes, Gil

AU - Benton, David

AU - Billaud, Antonin

AU - Fernandes, Marco

AU - Patel, Mohammed

AU - Guiomar, Fernando

AU - Ellis, Andrew

N1 - Published by Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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Y1 - 2025/9/8

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System calibration for single-wavelength multi-terabit mode-division multiplexing free-space optical communication systems

Abstract

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