The Tree of Light as interstellar optical transmitter system

TL;DR

This paper investigates an innovative interstellar optical communication system using a 'Tree-of-light' architecture, optimizing signal emission and distribution on a lightweight sail for efficient data transmission across space.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 'Tree-of-light' system model for interstellar communication, detailing the optical emission scheme and analyzing diffraction effects for improved signal transmission.

Findings

Optimal emission scheme for lightweight sails identified

Pulse position modulation (PPM) performance assessed

Channel coding schemes proposed for enhanced communication

Abstract

This work aims at investigating the optical transmission system needed for such lightweight sail, taking into account the physical constraints of such unprecedented link and focusing on the optimal scheme for the optical signal emission. In particular, the optical signal is distributed to several emitters on the sail. The light diffraction resulting from the pattern of the emitters acting coherently determines the characteristics of the whole beam transmitted by the sail and of the received signal on the Earth. The performance of the digital communication system using pulse position modulation (PPM) can be assessed and channel coding schemes are proposed. We are using the paradigm for which the entire sail communication system is described as a Tree-of-light: the detectors, CPU, memory and laser transmitter are the central unit, representing the trunk of the tree. The branches of the tree are the waveguides, directed to the sail surface. By means of multimode splitters, the signal is further distributed via the petioles to the emitters, the leaves, realized by grating couplers (GCs), on which this work is more focused.