Abstract

An Adaptive Optics (AO) system may offer an alternative to compensate and correct for beam degradation by reducing turbulence distortions that affect signal detection over horizontal propagation. Based on an experimental testbed placed in the laboratory, we simultaneously study the effects of the communication signal detection, beam wavefront and image quality using a continuous membrane-type deformable mirror and Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. By inducing distorting effects on the beam with a Spatial Light Modulator and turbulence masks that are Rytov variance-equivalent to that of actual atmospheric scenarios, and by employing a Zernike polynomials decomposition, beam correction was achieved and signal detection improved. Our results show that both beam-spreading and beam-wandering were reduced after correction, but more significantly, the beam's intensity percentage over detector surface increased in 164%. Future improvements are discussed as an experimental campaign is being prepared to evaluate a closed-loop AO setup for an FSO communication link over a 400-m range at the university campus to evaluate the effectiveness of such approach at different hours of the day and weather conditions.