Experimental verification of fiber-coupling efficiency for satellite-to-ground atmospheric laser downlinks

Optical communication is a high-capacity method that can handle considerable satellite data. When common-fiber optical devices such as optical fiber amplifiers based on single mode fibers are used in free-space laser communication systems, the laser beam has to be coupled to a single-mode fiber. Under atmospheric turbulence it would be difficult to make the required fiber coupling efficiency in satellite-to-ground laser propagation paths. A fast-steering mirror that can operate at high frequencies under atmospheric turbulence is fabricated, and its tracking performance is verified in real satellite-to-ground laser communication experiments. The measured fiber coupling loss of 10-19 dB in satellite-to-ground laser communication links under atmospheric turbulence shows good agreement with the predicted fiber coupling efficiency of 17 dB. (C)2012 Optical Society of America