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Hauptverfasser: Dacha, Sai Kanth, Essiambre, Rene-Jean, Ashikhimin, Alexei, Blanco-Redondo, Andrea, Kschischang, Frank R., Banaszek, Konrad, Zhang, Yuanhang
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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Online-Zugang:https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.13356
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author Dacha, Sai Kanth
Essiambre, Rene-Jean
Ashikhimin, Alexei
Blanco-Redondo, Andrea
Kschischang, Frank R.
Banaszek, Konrad
Zhang, Yuanhang
author_facet Dacha, Sai Kanth
Essiambre, Rene-Jean
Ashikhimin, Alexei
Blanco-Redondo, Andrea
Kschischang, Frank R.
Banaszek, Konrad
Zhang, Yuanhang
contents Exploration of the Universe requires communication with Earth, either on a direct path or through a cascade of proximate celestial bodies. Microwaves have traditionally been used for space communication, but electromagnetic waves of higher frequencies, such as in the optical domain, will enable probing farther in space due to their considerably lower diffraction loss. At a given data rate, the ultimate limit to point-to-point optical communication is determined by the received signal power and the photon information efficiency. The latter measures the number of information bits extracted per photon incident on a detector. As distances across space and, consequently, path loss increases, the system that can achieve the highest photon information efficiency will determine the longest distance at which communication is possible. We report here an experimental demonstration of optical detection at a record photon information efficiency of 14.5 bits per incident photon, or 17.8 bits per detected photon, after 87.5 dB of attenuation. Expressed in terms of energy per bit, this corresponds to 8.84 zeptojoules per bit, or 0.069 photons per bit at 1550 nm. To our knowledge, this is the highest photon information efficiency or lowest energy per bit detection system ever demonstrated at optical frequencies. Such a sensitive detection system holds promise for a wide range of applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_13356
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Communicating at a record 14.5 bits per received photon through a photon-starved channel
Dacha, Sai Kanth
Essiambre, Rene-Jean
Ashikhimin, Alexei
Blanco-Redondo, Andrea
Kschischang, Frank R.
Banaszek, Konrad
Zhang, Yuanhang
Optics
Exploration of the Universe requires communication with Earth, either on a direct path or through a cascade of proximate celestial bodies. Microwaves have traditionally been used for space communication, but electromagnetic waves of higher frequencies, such as in the optical domain, will enable probing farther in space due to their considerably lower diffraction loss. At a given data rate, the ultimate limit to point-to-point optical communication is determined by the received signal power and the photon information efficiency. The latter measures the number of information bits extracted per photon incident on a detector. As distances across space and, consequently, path loss increases, the system that can achieve the highest photon information efficiency will determine the longest distance at which communication is possible. We report here an experimental demonstration of optical detection at a record photon information efficiency of 14.5 bits per incident photon, or 17.8 bits per detected photon, after 87.5 dB of attenuation. Expressed in terms of energy per bit, this corresponds to 8.84 zeptojoules per bit, or 0.069 photons per bit at 1550 nm. To our knowledge, this is the highest photon information efficiency or lowest energy per bit detection system ever demonstrated at optical frequencies. Such a sensitive detection system holds promise for a wide range of applications.
title Communicating at a record 14.5 bits per received photon through a photon-starved channel
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.13356