The European data relay system and Alphasat to T-AOGS space to ground links, status, and achievements in 2017

Heine, F.; Pimentel, Patricia Martin; Rochow, Christoph; Saucke, Karen; Tröndle, Daniel; Lutzer, Michael; Meyer, Rolf; Bischl, H.; Matuz, Balázs

doi:10.1117/12.2290791

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Active optics play a rapidly increasing role in space, for example in satellite systems that have started to use LIDAR [1], optical communication [2], and laser ranging [3,4]. Space-based quantum technologies and atom clocks nearly always rely on an intricate manipulation of various on-board laser sources.…”

Section: Optical Beam Steering On Distribution Boards and Its Applicamentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical beam steering on distribution boards and its application for atom quantum experiments in space

Drougkakis

Mavrakis

Poulios

et al. 2019

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2018

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We present a novel optical beam steering technique (OBST) for fiber to free-space to fiber coupling schemes on optical breadboards, which uses glass wedge pairs and plates to correct for angular and translational misalignments respectively. This technique finds application in proposed missions for atom quantum experiments in space, e.g. where laser beams are used to cool and manipulate atomic clouds. The key advantage compared to the conventional beam steering is that OBST permits extremely fine adjustments whilst being far less sensitive to alignment errors and mechanical drifts. Beam steering resolutions of better than 5 μrad and 2 μm are achieved, resulting in a resolution in coupling efficiency (CE) of 0.1%. The inclusion of OBST on an optical breadboard reduces the requirements on the pointing and position precision adjustment of the fiber couplers, leading to a much-simplified design. The simpler construction of the couplers combined with the reduced sensitivity to drifts increases the stability-reliability of the breadboard and reduces the production duration and cost. We demonstrate CE of up to 90%, with a stability of 0.2% in a stable temperature environment and 2% over a temperature range from 10-40 degrees Celsius. We do not observe any change in the performance after large temperature changes.

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Section: Optical Beam Steering On Distribution Boards and Its Applicamentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical beam steering on distribution boards and its application for atom quantum experiments in space

Drougkakis

Mavrakis

Poulios

et al. 2019

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2018

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“…It can be seen (figure 8 left), that up-link communication (homodyne) was possible even through 10nW fades of up to 7 ms duration. The bit errors during these fades can be corrected by a forward error correction code specially adopted for the observed atmospheric characteristics as described within [12].…”

Section: Icso 2018 International Conference On Space Opticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three years of optical satellite to ground links with the T-AOGS: data transmission and characterization of atmospheric conditions

Saucke

Mahn

Pimentel

et al. 2019

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2018

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After more than 3 years of operational experiences with the Transportable Adaptive Optical Ground Station (T-AOGS) it is not any more the question whether optical communication through atmosphere is possible for Geo to ground applications. It is important to understand the performance of optical communication under different atmosphericconditions and which the key parameters are to improve simplicity, robustness and availability of optical bi-directional satellite to ground links (SGL). We report within this paper on the characterization of the atmospheric channel for ground to GEO optical communication without adaptive optics correction in the uplink. Besides the telemetry data of the space segment and the T-AOGS, also a special measurement campaign was carried out using the 1m telescope of the ESA-OGS in parallel. An outlook for further analysis and activities is given.

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“…Active optics play a rapidly increasing role in space instrumentation, for example in satellite systems that have started to use LIDAR [4,5,6,7], optical communication [8], and laser ranging [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precise and robust optical beam steering for space optical instrumentation

et al. 2019

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This approach permits much finer adjustments of the beam direction and position when compared to other beam steering techniques of the same mechanical precision. This results in a much increased precision, accuracy and mechanical stability. A precision of better than 5 µrad and 5 µm is demonstrated, resulting in a resolution in coupling efficiency of 0.1%. Together with the added flexibility of an additional beam steering element, this allows a great simplification of the design of the fiber coupler, which normally is the most complex and sensitive element on an optical fiber breadboard. We demonstrate a fiber to fiber coupling efficiency of more than 89.8%, with a stability of 0.2% in a stable temperature environment and 2% fluctuations over a temperature range from 10°C to 40°C over a measurement time of 2 G. Drougakis et al.14 hours. Furthermore, we do not observe any non-reversible change in the coupling efficiency after performing a series of tests over large temperature variations. This technique finds direct application in proposed missions for quantum experiments in space [1, 2, 3], e.g. where laser beams are used to cool and manipulate atomic clouds. IntroductionActive optics play a rapidly increasing role in space instrumentation, for example in satellite systems that have started to use LIDAR [4,5,6,7], optical communication [8], and laser ranging [9,10].Space-based quantum technologies and atom clocks rely on an intricate manipulation of a number of ultra-stable laser sources leading to highly complex optical signal conditioning setups, which can be problematic for space missions. In some cases, this can be handled by in-fiber devices, more often, however, the requirements exceed what can be achieved in single mode waveguide devices and optical benches handling fiber to free-space to fiber coupling are required. Examples include cases where precise frequency shifting (acoustooptic modulators) or very high extinction ratios are needed, such as proposals for cold atom experiments in space [11,12]. Many components require single mode fiber to fiber coupling resulting in very stringent requirements in alignment and stability of the optical breadboard and its components. To meet these requirements, the PHARAO cold atom clock designed for space application [13] needed to incorporate active stabilization of many optical components like the mirrors used to inject light into fibers. For the LISA Pathfinder and LISA candidate systems [14,15] the optical components were attached to the breadboard using hydroxyl bonding to achieve high stability standards, albeit at the cost of extreme requirements on the manufacturing process. Another approach used in MAIUS1 mission using a combination of different types adhesives and complex moving parts to steer the beam with high precision [16,17].In this paper, we report on a novel optical beam steering technique (OBST) for fiber to free-space to fiber coupling breadboards. We achieve robust, ultrastable and yet extremely fine beam steering using simple optical elements, lik...

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The European data relay system and Alphasat to T-AOGS space to ground links, status, and achievements in 2017

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Optical beam steering on distribution boards and its application for atom quantum experiments in space

Optical beam steering on distribution boards and its application for atom quantum experiments in space

Three years of optical satellite to ground links with the T-AOGS: data transmission and characterization of atmospheric conditions

Precise and robust optical beam steering for space optical instrumentation

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