STATEMENT OF WORK.pdf

Statement of Work Near-Noiseless Receiver Agnostic Phase-Sensitive Pre-amplifier Based on PPLN Waveguides for High Speed

Optical Near-Earth/Near-Lunar Satellite Networks

I. Background:

To harness high-speed telecom receiver technology for free space optical communications (FSOC) applications, an ultra-low noise optical pre-amplifier with a nose figure (NF) significantly smaller than 3 dB is needed. An approach based on utilizing phase sensitive amplifiers (PSAs) has been proposed to realize noise-free optical amplification.

Recently, an approach using periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide – based PSA (PPLN-PSA) has been presented. In fact, this approach has several advantages compared to other fiber optic, based techniques such as those incorporating highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF). First, the PPLN-PSA is not subject to the detrimental effect of the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) which limits the pump signal power and the corresponding PSA gain. Second, the PPLN- PSA has low parametric crosstalk and no intrinsic chirp. And third, the PPLN-PSA is a better fit for the SWAP (size, weight, and power) requirements as it uses compact, ~10 mm long, integrated photonic PPLN waveguides. It requires less pump power for the same gain. Therefore, space terminal receivers with 1 photon per bit receiver sensitivity operating at 10 Gbps data rate become feasible.

II. Objective:

The objective of this project is to demonstrate a PPLN-PSA based on the concepts presented by Reference 1. as shown in Figure 1 below. Using advanced commercial of the shelf (COTS) PPLN-PSA devices has the potential to yield receivers with NF of ≤ 1.0dB. This is ideal for extremely low light level signals where receiver sensitivities of 1 photon per bit at high data rates of ≥ 10Gbps is highly desirable for coherent and direct detect communications.

Figure 1 Schematic diagram for the proposed PPLN-based PSA setup, ITLA: Integrated tunable laser assembly, ECLD: External cavity laser diode, IQM: In-phase/quadrature modulator, BPF: optical bandpass filter, OPA: Optical parametric amplifier, SHG: second harmonic generator, VOA: variable optical attenuator, PZT: Piezoelectric transducer, PLL: Phase-locked loop, PD: Photodetector.

III. Technical Requirements:

In order, to proceed with evaluating the concept described in the preceding sections, at least one SHG-PPLN device and one OPA-PPLN device are needed. The specifications associated with these two devices are described in Covesion’s Quote Number: CQ-ASA041g. In addition, each PPLN device requires a temperature controller in order, to maintain output precision.

IV. Deliverables:

i. One PPLN device part number WGHP-1560-40 as described in Covesion’s Quote Number:

CQ-ASA041g.

ii. One PPLN device part number WGCO-1560-40 as described in Covesion’s Quote Number:

CQ-ASA041g.

iii. One temperature controller part number OC3 as described in Covesion’s Quote Number: CQ- ASA041g.

iv. One temperature controller part number MC1 as described in Covesion’s Quote Number: CQ- ASA041g.

V. References:

1. “Over-30-dB gain and 1-dB noise figure phase-sensitive amplification using a pump-combiner-integrated fiber I/O PPLN module” Takushi Kazama, Takeshi Umeki, Shimpei Shimizu, Takahiro Kashiwazaki, Koji Enbutsu, Ryoichi Kasahara, Yutaka Miyamoto, and Kei Watanabe Optics Express Vol. 29, Issue 18, pp. 28824-28834 (2021)