A High Data Rate Laser Communication System

A sophisticated laser communication system has been built and tested both in the laboratory and over field distances. It is envisioned that laser systems using the same techniques might someday return real time television and telemetry from manned interplanetary spacecraft. In the breadboard system, commercial rate television, sound, and a data channel are multiplexed into a thirty million bit per second pulse code modulation (PCM) format, and this signal is modulated onto the laser beam using polarization modulation (PL). We believe this is the first application of a high power Argon ion laser in a communication system. This paper contains an illustrated description of the system, a brief discussion of problems associated with the integration of the high power laser and the wide band modulator, and a summary of experimental results obtained under field conditions. Photographs of the TV monitor, transmitted under various atmospheric conditions, are included.