Impact of Polarization on Distributed Optical Beamforming

• Published in: IEEE communications letters Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 1180 - 1184
• Main Authors: Sharma, Srishti, De, Swades
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.04.2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Array signal processing; Beamforming; Coplanarity; Distributed beamforming; Electromagnetic radiation; Optical beams; Optical polarization; Optical receivers; Optical transmitters; Polarization; polarization beamforming; Receivers; Synchronization; wireless information transfer; wireless power transfer
• ISSN: 1089-7798; 1558-2558
• DOI: 10.1109/LCOMM.2023.3247029

In this letter, we propose the concept of distributed optical beamforming and its feasibility requirements. We quantify the importance of polarization beamforming among the beams for maximized beamforming. As a first step towards distributed polarization beamforming (DPolB), in this work we consider coplanar sources and receiver for beamforming and demonstrate the critical requirement of polarization alignment for maximized beamforming gain. We determine theoretically and verify via simulations the optimal polarization angle at the sources such that the electromagnetic waves interfere constructively at the receiver. Subsequently, we propose a novel method for automated polarization beamforming of multiple optical beams independent of source locations. Performance of the proposed DPolB is analytically captured in terms of average beamforming gain and verified using simulations. We also verify that the reduction in gain caused by slight deviation from coplanarity is not significant.