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Free-space terabit/s coherent optical links via platicon frequency microcombs
Coherent frequency microcombs, generated in nonlinear high-Q microresonators and driven by a single continuous-wave laser, have enabled several scientific breakthroughs in the past decade, thanks to their high intrinsic phase coherence and individual comb line powers. Here, we report terabit-per-second-scale coherent data communications over a free-space atmospheric link, using a platicon frequency microcomb, employing wavelength- and polarization-division multiplexing for next-generation optical wireless networks. Spanning more than 55 optical carriers with 115 GHz channel spacing, we report the first free-space coherent communication link using a frequency microcomb, achieving up to 8.21 Tbit/s aggregate data transmission at a 20 Gbaud symbol rate per carrier over 160 m, even under log-normal turbulent conditions. Utilizing 16-state quadrature amplitude modulation, we demonstrate retrieved constellation maps across the broad microcomb spectrum, achieving bit-error rates below both hard- and soft-decision thresholds for forward-error correction. Next, we examine a wavelength-division multiplexing free-space passive optical network as a baseline for free-space fronthaul, achieving an aggregate data rate of up to 5.21 Tbit/s and a field-tested spectral efficiency of 1.29 bit/s/Hz in the microcomb-based atmospheric link. We also quantify experimental power penalties of ≈ 3.8 dB at the error-correction threshold, relative to the theoretical additive white Gaussian noise limit. Furthermore, we introduce the first-ever demonstration of master--slave free-space carrier phase retrieval with frequency microcombs, and the compensation for turbulence-induced intensity scintillation and pointing error fluctuations, to improve end-to-end symbol error rates. This work provides a foundational platform for broadband vertical heterogeneous connectivity, terrestrial backbone links, and ground-satellite communication.
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@article{wang2025freespace,
title = {Free-space terabit/s coherent optical links via platicon frequency microcombs},
author = {Wenting Wang and Hao Liu and Jiagui Wu and James F. McMillan and Dong IL Lee and Futai Hu and Wenzheng Liu and Jinghui Yang and Hangbo Yang and Abhinav Kumar Vinod and Yahya H. Ezzeldin and Christina Fragouli and Mingbin Yu and Patrick Guo-Qiang Lo and Dim-Lee Kwong and Devin S. Kahrs and Ninghua Zhu and Chee Wei Wong},
year = {2025},
journal = {eLight},
publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC},
volume = {5},
number = {1},
pages = {8},
doi = {10.1186/s43593-025-00082-0},
}