Photonic Multi-Channel Transmit/Receive Integrated Phase and Amplitude Controller

The development of compact Gbit/sec bandwidth Army free-space, laser communication systems require a new generation of fiber-optic, high-speed, multi-channel beam controllers. EOSPACE proposes a new and unique Transmit/Receive Integrated Phase and Amplitude Controller (TRIPAC) for these applications. Polarization and wavelength multiplexing techniques are used to achieve simultaneous transmit and receive operations with a high degree of separation (less than 60 dB of crosstalk) between the high power transmitters (25 to 30 dBm) and the low-power ( 9 bit) bi-directional phase shifters and intensity controllers for each channel. The low voltage (Vpi 4 pi). Through the use of a wide variety of in-house technologies, EOSPACE has already demonstrated a majority of these operations during Phase I of this SBIR program. These new and novel TRIPAC transceivers will open up new applications in free-space adaptive communications, real-time targeting and designation, aberration-free imaging, and laser weapon systems.