Deep-Space Optical Communication Receiver Based on Single Photon Coherent Beam Combination

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel deep-space optical receiver architecture using coherent beam combination of multiple small apertures, enhancing daytime communication performance by increasing signal-to-noise ratio.

Contribution

It introduces a new receiver design that replaces a large aperture with an array of smaller ones combined coherently, improving daytime data transmission in deep-space optical links.

Findings

Enhanced daytime communication rates due to coherent beam combination.

Performance comparable to large aperture receivers at night.

Potential for higher information rates in noisy, daytime conditions.

Abstract

We introduce an alternative receiver architecture for deep-space optical communication, in which a single large aperture is replaced by an array of smaller ones with outputs combined coherently, employing phase stabilization based on photon counting events. We show that it allows to increase the signal to noise ratio, thus potentially attaining higher information transmission rates in the regime of large noise, typical for daytime communication. We analyze its practical performance by simulating pulse position modulation-based communication from the recently launched Psyche mission. Under nighttime conditions the achieved performance is comparable to that offered by a single large aperture, whereas in daytime conditions the single photon coherent beam combination architecture provides an advantage in the information transmission rate.