GaN-based series hybrid LED array : a dual-function light source with illumination and high-speed visible light communication capabilities

Xie, Enyuan and Cheng, Chen and Ouyang, Chengsui and Hill, Jordan and McKendry, Jonathan J.D. and Zhang, Yanchao and Gu, Erdan and Herrnsdorf, Johannes and Haas, Harald and Dawson, Martin D. (2024) GaN-based series hybrid LED array : a dual-function light source with illumination and high-speed visible light communication capabilities. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 42 (1). pp. 243-250. ISSN 0733-8724 (https://doi.org/10.1109/JLT.2023.3303779)

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Abstract

We propose and demonstrate a GaN-based series-driven hybrid light emitting diode (SH-LED) device in which broad-area and micro-LED components are interconnected for simultaneous illumination and high-speed visible light communication (VLC) applications. Through theoretical analysis based on an equivalent electrical circuit model and characterization from a fabricated exemplar device with blue emission, it is shown that SH-LEDs combine the advantages of broad-area and micro-LED components by offering high direct-current (DC) optical power output and a fast frequency response. The application of this device to VLC is demonstrated through both the point-to-point and 9 divergence-angle coverage systems at 3 m transmission distance adopting a DC-biased optical-orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing modulation scheme. Compared with a point-to-point system using a single micro-LED, that our initial demonstrator SH-LED achieves the same data transmission rate of 3.39 Gbps at forward error correction (FEC) floor of 3.8; 10-3, but the received DC optical power is improved by over 3 times. For the area coverage system, up to 1.56 Gbps data transmission rates at a FEC floor of 3.8 10-3 are accomplished by using this device, associated with over 4 times higher received DC optical power compared with that using a single micro-LED.

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