Orbital Angular Momentum Microlaser

Background:

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing is a physical layer method for multiplexing signals carried on electromagnetic waves using the orbital angular momentum of the electromagnetic waves to distinguish between the different orthogonal signals.  Although OAM multiplexing promises very significant improvements in bandwidth when used in concert with other existing modulation and multiplexing schemes, it is still an experimental technique, and has so far only been demonstrated in the laboratory and has challenges due to bulky components that cannot be used on a chip.

Technology Overview:

An Integrated OAM microlaser with well-defined topological charges at source that overcomes current OAM limitations has been developed.  This is the first integrated OAM micro laser that can improve the information capacity of current optical communication using orbital angular momentum-based division multiplexing. This is done by implementing a complex refractive index modulated micro-ring laser with sidewall modulations emitting complex vector beams carrying the OAM information.  The use of orbital angular momentum (OAM) light is expected to enable the implementation of entirely new high-speed secure optical communication and quantum teleportation systems in a multidimensional space by encoding information with different OAM, satisfying the exponentially growing demand worldwide for network capacity.

Intellectual Property Summary:

U.S. patent application 15/920,371 filed 3/13/2018 US20180261977A1

Stage of Development:

Proof of concept demonstration.

Licensing Status:

Available for licensing.