Coverage extended MMF-based indoor OWC using overfilled launch and diversity reception

Abstract

Speckle patterns generated as coherent optical beams are reflected by scattering elements. Multimode fibers (MMFs) can modify the transverse intensity distribution of speckle patterns with macro perturbations, i.e., pressures, providing a simple and low-cost way to achieve equivalent beam-steering for indoor optical wireless communications (OWCs) with divergent optical beams. However, the received optical power (ROP) variance severely limits the mobility of user terminals. In this paper, the issue is alleviated by using the overfilled launch of MMFs and the diversity gain of multi-receivers. By adjusting the axial spatial coupling distance between the MMF and the single mode fiber (SMF) emitting coherent laser, the number of excited modes of MMF can be significantly increased at 1550 nm with negligible coupling and bending losses. In addition, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement obtained by applying two receivers is theoretically analyzed for the case when either thermal noise or shot noise is dominant. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can efficiently compensate for the ROP inhomogeneity, and at the same time it can extend the achievable full steering angle up to 12° at a 1.5-m free-space distance for bit error rate (BER) values of less than 3.8 × 10−3.