Visible light communication (VLC) can provide high speed data transmission that could alleviate the pressure on the conventional radio frequency (RF) spectrum with the looming capacity crunch for digital communication systems. In this paper, we present experimental results of a VLC system with a data rate of 15.73 Gb/s after applying forward error correction (FEC) coding over a 1.6 m link. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is utilized to efficiently modulate four wavelengths in the visible light spectrum. Four single color low-cost commercially available light emitting diodes (LEDs) are chosen as light sources. This confirms the feasibility and readiness of VLC for high data rate communication. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with adaptive bit loading is used. The system with the available components is characterized and its parameters, such as LED driving points and OFDM signal peak-to-peak scaling factor, are optimized. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest data rate ever reported for LED-based VLC systems.

Organic optoelectronic devices combine high-performance, simple fabrication and distinctive form factors. They are widely integrated in smart devices and wearables as flexible, high pixel density organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, and may be scaled to large area by rollto-roll printing for lightweight solar power systems. Exceptionally thin and flexible organic devices may enable future integrated bioelectronics and security features. However, as a result of their low charge mobility, these are generally thought to be slow devices with microsecond response times, thereby limiting their full scope of potential applications. By investigating the factors limiting their bandwidth and overcoming them, we demonstrate here exceptionally fast OLEDs with bandwidths in the hundreds of MHz range. This opens up a wide range of potential applications in spectroscopy, communications, sensing and optical ranging. As an illustration of this, we have demonstrated visible light communication using OLEDs with data rates exceeding 1 gigabit per second.

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We show that organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are suitable for high-speed optical wireless data receivers that can also harvest power. In addition, these OPVs are of particular interest for indoor applications, as their bandgap is larger than that of silicon, leading to better matching to the spectrum of artificial light. By selecting a suitable combination of a narrow bandgap donor polymer and a nonfullerene acceptor, stable OPVs are fabricated with a power conversion efficiency of 8.8% under 1 Sun and 14% under indoor lighting conditions. In an optical wireless communication experiment, a data rate of 363 Mb/s and a simultaneous harvested power of 10.9 mW are achieved in a 4-by-4 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) setup that consists of four laser diodes, each transmitting 56 mW optical power and four OPV cells on a single panel as receivers at a distance of 40 cm. This result is the highest reported data rate using OPVs as data receivers and energy harvesters. This finding may be relevant to future mobile communication applications because it enables enhanced wireless data communication performance while prolonging the battery life in a mobile device.

By employing a GaN-based series-biased microlight emitting diode (µLED) array and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing modulation format, a high-speed free-space visible light communication system for long-distance applications has been demonstrated. The blue series-biased µLED array, which consists of 3×3, 20 µm-diameter µLED elements, presents promising performance with an optical power and -6dB electrical modulation bandwidth of over 10 mW and 980 MHz, respectively. Record data transmission rates have been successfully achieved at different free-space distances. Within 5 m transmission distances, over 10 Gbps data rates at the forward error correction (FEC) floor of 3.8×10 −3 are accomplished. Extending the transmission distances to 20 m, the data rates are maintained at the Gbps level at the FEC floor.