Ioannis Papakonstantinou

Visible Light Communications: 170 Mb/s Using an Artificial Neural Network Equalizer in a Low Bandwidth White Light Configuration

In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate for the first time an on off keying modulated visible light communications system achieving 170 Mb/s using an artificial neural network (ANN) based equalizer. Adaptive decision feedback (DF) and linear equalizers are also implemented and the system performances are measured using both real time (TI TMS320C6713 digital signal processing board) and offline (MATLAB) implementation of the equalizers. The performance of each equalizer is analyzed in this paper using a low bandwidth (4.5 MHz) light emitting diode (LED) as the transmitter and a large bandwidth (150 MHz) PIN photodetector as the receiver. The achievable data rates using the white spectrum are 170, 90, 40 and 20 Mb/s for ANN, DF, linear and unequalized topologies, respectively. Using a blue filter to isolate the fast blue component of the LED (at the cost of the power contribution of the yellowish wavelengths) is a popular method of improving the data rate. We further demonstrate that it is possible to sustain higher data rates from the white light with ANN equalization than the blue component due to the high signal-to-noise ratio that is obtained from retaining the yellowish wavelengths. Using the blue component we could achieve data rates of 150, 130, 90 and 70 Mb/s for the same equalizers, respectively.

Transition, radiation and propagation loss in polymer multimode waveguide bends

Design curves for insertion loss of multimode polymer waveguide 90 masculine bends are reported as a function of bend radius for several waveguide widths. For the first time, to our knowledge, in multimode rectangular waveguides the insertion loss is resolved into its components of transition, radiation and propagation loss, in order of decreasing strength, separating them from input and output coupling loss by calibration and comparison of experimentally measured and beam propagation method (BPM) modeled curves. We used the method of nested bends for the first time in multimode polymer waveguides to calculate the propagation loss on a small substrate without using destructive cut-back. The lowest loss of 0.74 dB occurred for a 50 mum square cross section, Deltan=0.0296, 13.5 mm radius waveguide bend.

Low-Cost, Precision, Self-Alignment Technique for Coupling Laser and Photodiode Arrays to Polymer Waveguide Arrays on Multilayer PCBs

The first, to our knowledge, passive, precision, self-alignment technique for direct coupling of vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and photodiode (PD) arrays to an array of polymer buried channel waveguides on a rigid printed circuit board (PCB) is reported. It gives insertion losses as good as the best achieved previously, to within experimental measurement accuracy, but without the need for costly active alignment nor waveguide facet polishing and so is a major step towards a commercially realizable low cost connector. Such an optical connector with four duplex channels each operating at 10 Gb/s (80 Gb/s aggregate) was designed, constructed, and its alignment precision assessed. The alignment technique is applicable to polymer waveguide interconnections on both rigid and flexible multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs). The dependence of optical coupling loss on misalignments in , and of the VCSEL and PD arrays allows the precision of alignment to be assessed and its reproducibility on multiple mating cycles of the connector is reported. The first recorded measurements of crosstalk between waveguides when the connector is misaligned are reported. Lateral misalignments of the connector to within its tolerance are shown to have no effect on the signal to crosstalk ratio (SCR), to within experimental measurement accuracy. The insertion loss repeatability is similar to that of single mode fiber mechanically transferable (MT) connectors.

A bioinspired solution for spectrally selective thermochromic VO 2 coated intelligent glazing

We present a novel approach towards achieving high visible transmittance for vanadium dioxide (VO(2)) coated surfaces whilst maintaining the solar energy transmittance modulation required for smart-window applications. Our method deviates from conventional approaches and utilizes subwavelength surface structures, based upon those present on the eyeballs of moths, that are engineered to exhibit broadband, polarization insensitive and wide-angle antireflection properties. The moth-eye functionalised surface is expected to benefit from simultaneous super-hydrophobic properties that enable the window to self-clean. We develop a set of design rules for the moth-eye surface nanostructures and, following this, numerically optimize their dimensions using parameter search algorithms implemented through a series of Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulations. We select six high-performing cases for presentation, all of which have a periodicity of 130 nm and aspect ratios between 1.9 and 8.8. Based upon our calculations the selected cases modulate the solar energy transmittance by as much as 23.1% whilst maintaining high visible transmittance of up to 70.3%. The performance metrics of the windows presented in this paper are the highest calculated for VO(2) based smart-windows.

Laser-generated ultrasound with optical fibres using functionalised carbon nanotube composite coatings

Optical ultrasound transducers were created by coating optical fibres with a composite of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Dissolution of CNTs in PDMS to create the composite was facilitated by functionalisation with oleylamine. Composite surfaces were applied to optical fibres using dip coating. Under pulsed laser excitation, ultrasound pressures of 3.6 MPa and 4.5 MPa at the coated end faces were achieved with optical fibre core diameters of 105 and 200 μm, respectively. The results indicate that CNT-PDMS composite coatings on optical fibres could be viable alternatives to electrical ultrasound transducers in miniature ultrasound imaging probes.

Visible light communications using organic light emitting diodes

Organic VLC is an emerging subset of visible light communications that uses organic photonic components as the link transmitter, receiver or both. Recent developments in organic LEDs have enabled high efficiency and brightness devices that can be used for data transmission as in conventional VLC systems. VLC utilizes the visible wavelength range of the electromagnetic spectrum (370-780 nm). Here we demonstrate an organic VLC link using an OLED with 93 kHz bandwidth as the source and a silicon photodetector with 5 MHz bandwidth and a 10 dB gain as the receiver. A wide range of modulation schemes are examined; and, as is commonplace in communications systems, equalization techniques are implemented to maximize data rates into the megabits per second region, and 2.7 Mb/s was achieved.

Exploiting Equalization Techniques for Improving Data Rates in Organic Optoelectronic Devices for Visible Light Communications

This paper presents the use of equalization techniques in visible light communication (VLC) systems in order to increase the data rate. Here we investigate two VLC links a silicon (Si) light emitting diode (LED) and an organic photodetector (OPD), and an organic LED (OLED) plus an Si photodetector (PD), together with three equalization schemes of an RC high pass equalizer, a fractionally spaced zero-forcing equalizer (ZF) and an artificial neural network (ANN). In addition we utilize a pre-distortion scheme to enhance the performance of the digital equalizers. For both systems the bit rate achieved are 750 kb/s from a raw bandwidth (BW) of 30 kHz and 550 kb/s from a raw BW of 93 kHz.

FirstLight: Pluggable Optical Interconnect Technologies for Polymeric Electro-Optical Printed Circuit Boards in Data Centers

The protocol data rate governing data storage devices will increase to over 12 Gb/s by 2013 thereby imposing unmanageable cost and performance burdens on future digital data storage systems. The resulting performance bottleneck can be substantially reduced by conveying high-speed data optically instead of electronically. A novel active pluggable 82.5 Gb/s aggregate bit rate optical connector technology, the design and fabrication of a compact electro-optical printed circuit board to meet exacting specifications, and a method for low cost, high precision, passive optical assembly are presented. A demonstration platform was constructed to assess the viability of embedded electro-optical midplane technology in such systems including the first ever demonstration of a pluggable active optical waveguide printed circuit board connector. High-speed optical data transfer at 10.3125 Gb/s was demonstrated through a complex polymer waveguide interconnect layer embedded into a 262 mm × 240 mm × 4.3 mm electro-optical midplane. Bit error rates of less than 10-12 and optical losses as low as 6 dB were demonstrated through nine multimode polymer wave guides with an aggregate data bandwidth of 92.8125 Gb/s.

Broadband miniature optical ultrasound probe for high resolution vascular tissue imaging.

An all-optical ultrasound probe for vascular tissue imaging was developed. Ultrasound was generated by pulsed laser illumination of a functionalized carbon nanotube composite coating on the end face of an optical fiber. Ultrasound was detected with a Fabry-Pérot (FP) cavity on the end face of an adjacent optical fiber. The probe diameter was < 0.84 mm and had an ultrasound bandwidth of ~20 MHz. The probe was translated across the tissue sample to create a virtual linear array of ultrasound transmit/receive elements. At a depth of 3.5 mm, the axial resolution was 64 µm and the lateral resolution was 88 µm, as measured with a carbon fiber target. Vascular tissues from swine were imaged ex vivo and good correspondence to histology was observed.

Visible light communications: real time 10 Mb/s link with a low bandwidth polymer light-emitting diode

This paper presents new experimental results on a polymer light-emitting diode based visible light communications system. For the first time we demonstrate a 10 Mb/s link based on the on-off keying data format with real time equalization on a field programmable gate array. The 10 Mb/s transmission speed is available at a bit error rate less than 4.6 × 10(-3), which is the limit for forward error correction. At a BER of 10(-6) a transmission speed of 7 Mb/s is readily achievable.