Deep space uplink receiver prototype for optical communications

Sburlan, Suzana; Birnbaum, Kevin; Farr, William H.

doi:10.1117/12.877206

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(3 reference statements)

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“…Lastly, photon-counting detectors have lower read-out noise than CCDs, especially at high frame readout rates. We have previously shown that a photon-counting detector allows centroiding estimates to be calculated with estimation errors close to the theoretical shot noise limit 4 . This serves to reduce the required transmitted power from Earth to acquire and track the uplink beacon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of photon-counting detector responsivity for nonlinear two-photon absorption process

Sburlan

Farr

2011

SPIE Proceedings

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Sub-band absorption at 1550 nm has been demonstrated and characterized on silicon Geiger mode detectors, which normally would be expected to have no response at this wavelength. We compare responsivity measurements to singlephoton absorption for wavelengths slightly above the band gap wavelength of silicon (~1100 m). One application for this low efficiency sub-band absorption is in deep space optical communication systems where it is desirable to track a 1030 nm uplink beacon on the same flight terminal detector array that monitors a 1550 nm downlink signal for pointing control. The currently observed absorption at 1550 nm provides 60-70 dB of isolation compared to the response at 1064 nm, which is desirable to avoid saturation of the detector by scattered light from the downlink laser.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of photon-counting detector responsivity for nonlinear two-photon absorption process

Sburlan

Farr

2011

SPIE Proceedings

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“…An example of this detector class is the Negative Avalanche Feedback Detector [8]. Using a small (6x6) photon counting focal plane array, we have demonstrated shot noise limited performance in centroid estimation [9]. The laser beacon can be modulated to allow background subtraction of scattered light and upwelling radiance from Earth.…”

Section: Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

Deep space acquisition and tracking with single photon detector arrays

Farr

Sburlan

Sahasrabudhe

et al. 2011

2011 International Conference on Space Optical Systems and Applications (ICSOS)

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Abstract-The laser beacon power required by a communication terminal for acquisition and tracking in deep space optical link scenarios can be reduced by a factor of 10 to 100 by replacing an integrating array, such as a CCD, with an array of single photon detectors. An additional benefit of the single photon detector array is that each pixel can have MHz bandwidths, allowing simultaneous recovery of photon time-ofarrival information that can be used for uplink data recovery or range measurements.

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Deep space uplink receiver prototype for optical communications

Cited by 2 publications

References 5 publications

Characterization of photon-counting detector responsivity for nonlinear two-photon absorption process

Characterization of photon-counting detector responsivity for nonlinear two-photon absorption process

Deep space acquisition and tracking with single photon detector arrays

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