0.5-Gb/s OFDM-based laser data and power transfer using a GaAs photovoltaic cell

Fakidis, John and Videv, Stefan and Helmers, Henning and Haas, Harald (2018) 0.5-Gb/s OFDM-based laser data and power transfer using a GaAs photovoltaic cell. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 30 (9). pp. 841-844. ISSN 1041-1135 (https://doi.org/10.1109/LPT.2018.2815273)

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Abstract

In this letter, we demonstrate for the first time the additional capability of high-speed data communication for single-junction photovoltaic (PV) cells. A record 3-dB bandwidth of 24.5 MHz is reported for a gallium arsenide (GaAs) PV cell. The PV cell is shown to achieve a power efficiency of at least 42% when irradiance of 0.46 W/cm2 is received from 847-nm vertical-cavity surface-emitted laser. Optimized bit-and-power-loaded optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is applied to use the communication bandwidth most efficiently. With this, a data rate of 0.5 Gb/s is achieved for a 2-m OFDM-based laser link. To the best of our knowledge, the reported data rates achieved with a GaAs PV cell as the detector are the highest for simultaneous optical wireless information and power transfer.

ORCID iDs

Fakidis, John ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8195-4890, Videv, Stefan, Helmers, Henning and Haas, Harald;