Deep-sea low-light radiometer system.

Two single-waveband low-light radiometers were developed to characterize properties of the underwater light field relevant to biological camouflage at mesopelagic ocean depths. Phenomena of interest were vertical changes in downward irradiance of ambient light at wavelengths near 470 nm and 560 nm, and flashes from bioluminescent organisms. Depth profiles were acquired at multiple deep stations in different geographic regions. Results indicate significant irradiance magnitudes at 560 nm, providing direct evidence of energy transfer as described by Raman scattering. Analysis of a night profile yielded multiple examples of bioluminescent flashes. The selection of high-sensitivity, high-speed silicon photomultipliers as detectors enabled measurement of spectrally-resolved irradiance to greater than 400 m depth.

Performance-based adaptive power optimization for digital optical interconnects.

Optical links are traditionally set to transmit maximum power for worst-case loss and consequently to dissipate more power than is required. We describe a technique to minimize power consumption based on the measured bit-error rate (BER) of the link. This technique uses a novel power-negotiation algorithm that optimizes the link power setting to achieve minimum power dissipation for a target BER. A 0.5 microm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor optical transceiver chip was fabricated, and a free-space optical interconnect system was built for validation. The results showed that the algorithm was able to find the optimum power settings for the VCSELs for a target BER and to account for dynamic changes such as variation in the optical loss in the system.

Fe Boltzmann temperature lidar: design, error analysis, and initial results at the north and south poles.

The design, development, and first measurements of a novel mesospheric temperature lidar are described. The lidar technique employs mesospheric Fe as a fluorescence tracer and relies on the temperature dependence of the population difference of two closely spaced Fe transitions. The principal advantage of this technique is that robust solid-state broadband laser source(s) can be used that enables the lidar to be deployed at remote locations and aboard research aircraft. We describe the system design and present a detailed analysis of the measurement errors. Correlative temperature observations, made with the Colorado State University Na lidar at Fort Collins, Colorado, are also discussed. Last, we present the initial range-resolved temperature measurements in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere over both the North and the South Poles obtained with this system.