Interband cascade technology for energy-efficient mid-infrared free-space communication

Space-to-ground high-speed transmission is of utmost importance for the development of a worldwide broadband network.Mid-infrared wavelengths offer numerous advantages for building such a system,spanning from low atmospheric attenuation to eye-safe operation and resistance to inclement weather conditions.We demonstrate a full interband cascade system for high-speed transmission around a wavelength of 4.18μm.The low-power consumption of both the laser and the detector in combination with a large modulation bandwidth and sufficient output power makes this technology ideal for a free-space optical communication application.Our proof-of-concept experiment employs a radio-frequency optimized Fabry–Perot interband cascade laser and an interband cascade infrared photodetector based on a type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice.The bandwidth of the system is evaluated to be around 1.5 GHz.It allows us to achieve data rates of 12 Gbit/s with an on–off keying scheme and 14 Gbit/s with a 4-level pulse amplitude modulation scheme.The quality of the transmission is enhanced by conventional pre-and post-processing in order to be compatible with standard error-code correction.

High-capacity free-space optical link in the midinfrared thermal atmospheric windows using unipolar quantum devices

Free-space optical communication is a very promising alternative to fiber communication systems,in terms of ease of deployment and costs.Midinfrared light has several features of utter relevance for free-space applications:low absorption when propagating in the atmosphere even under adverse conditions,robustness of the wavefront during long-distance propagation,and absence of regulations and restrictions for this range of wavelengths.A proof-of-concept of high-speed transmission taking advantage of intersubband devices has recently been demonstrated,but this effort was limited by the short-distance optical path(up to 1 m).In this work,we study the possibility of building a long-range link using unipolar quantum optoelectronics.Two different detectors are used:an uncooled quantum cascade detector and a nitrogen-cooled quantum well-infrared photodetector.We evaluate the maximum data rate of our link in a back-to-back configuration before adding a Herriott cell to increase the length of the light path up to 31 m.By using pulse shaping,pre-and post-processing,we reach a record bitrate of 30 Gbit s−1 for both two-level(OOK)and four-level(PAM-4)modulation schemes for a 31-m propagation link and a bit error rate compatible with error-correction codes.

Chaotic light at mid-infrared wavelength

The onset of nonlinear dynamics and chaos is evidenced in a mid-infrared distributed feedback quantum cascade laser both in the temporal and frequency domains.As opposed to the commonly observed route to chaos in semiconductor lasers,which involves undamping of the laser relaxation oscillations,quantum cascade lasers first exhibit regular self-pulsation at the external cavity frequency before entering into a chaotic low-frequency fluctuation regime.The bifurcation sequence,similar to that already observed in class A gas lasers under optical feedback,results from the fast carrier relaxation dynamics occurring in quantum cascade lasers,as confirmed by numerical simulations.Such chaotic behavior can impact various practical applications including spectroscopy,which requires stable single-mode operation.It also allows the development of novel mid-infrared highpower chaotic light sources,thus enabling secure free-space high bit-rate optical communications based on chaos synchronization.

Extreme events in quantum cascade lasers

We demonstrate experimentally that mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers(QCLs)operating under external optical feedback exhibit extreme pulses.These events can be triggered by adding small amplitude periodic modulation,with the highest success rate for the case of a pulse-up excitation.These findings broaden the potential applications for QCLs,which have already been proven to be a semiconductor laser of interest for spectroscopic applications and countermeasure systems.The ability to trigger extreme events paves the way for optical neuron-like systems where information propagates as a result of high intensity bursts.