Multi-target and ultra-high-speed optical wireless communication using a thin-film lithium niobate optical phased array.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41397980.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-67696-3 and PMC identifier 12847847.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Optical wireless communication (OWC) effectively addresses challenges such as radio spectrum scarcity and signal attenuation by leveraging the properties of laser beams. A major advance in this field comes from the incorporation of optical phased arrays (OPAs), which enable inertial-free, high-speed beam steering with transformative potential. In this contribution, we propose and demonstrate a multi-target and ultra-high-speed OWC system based on a thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) OPA. It enables real-time multi-target connection without mechanical components or lenses. This system can achieve OWC with a single-channel communication data rate of up to 320 Gbps in the modulation format of 16-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), significantly exceeding the peak capabilities of 5 G and current 6 G proposals. System performance is further validated through the stable transmission of uncompressed high-definition video. This work establishes a new paradigm for fully solid-state, chip-scale OWC systems, combining unprecedented single-channel data throughput with dynamic multi-target support.