A Free-Space Orbital Angular Momentum Multiplexing Communication System Based on a Metasurface

Heyun Tan, Junhong Deng, Ruizhe Zhao, Xiong Wu, Guixin Li, Lingling Huang, Jie Liu, Xinlun Cai

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

62 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Optical vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) have received great attention since the 1990s. In particular, OAM offers an additional degree of freedom, thus, enabling boosting of data transmission capacity in communication systems. One of the major challenges of OAM-based communication lies in multiplexing OAM via a kind of effective, compact, and flexible approach. Here, a novel approach to achieve the generation and combination of OAM beams by a pre-engineered reflective metasurface chip is demonstrated. Compared to traditional methods of OAM generation, this approach shows superiorities of broadband operating wavelength, high mode purity, flexible design, and compact size. Moreover, a free-space OAM multiplexing communication experiment based on the single metasurface is successfully carried out, performing 448 Gbit s−1 data transmission with four different topological charges of OAM and two polarizations by 28-GBaud QPSK signals. This work experimentally demonstrates promising applications of the metasurface in high-capacity optical communication systems.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1800278
JournalLaser and Photonics Reviews
Volume13
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2019

Keywords

  • integrated devices
  • metasurfaces
  • optical communication
  • orbital angular momentum multiplexing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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