This book provides a comprehensive, unified tutorial covering the most recent advances in the technology of free-space optics (FSO). It is an all-inclusive source of information on the fundamentals of FSO as well as up-to-date information on the state-of-the-art in technologies available today. This text is intended for graduate students, and will also be useful for research scientists and engineers with an interest in the field.

FSO communication is a practical solution for creating a three dimensional global broadband communications grid, offering bandwidths far beyond what is possible in the Radio Frequency (RF) range. However, the attributes of atmospheric turbulence and scattering impose perennial limitations on availability and reliability of FSO links. From a systems point-of-view, this groundbreaking book provides a thorough understanding of channel behavior, which can be used to design and evaluate optimum transmission techniques that operate under realistic atmospheric conditions.

Topics addressed include:
. FSO Physical and Statistical Models: Single/Multiple Inputs/Outputs
. Understanding FSO: Theory and Systems Analysis
. Modulation and Coding for Free-Space Optical Channels
. Atmospheric Mitigation and Compensation for FSO Links
. Non-line-of-sight (NLOS) Ultraviolet and Indoor FSO Communications
. FSO Platforms: UAV and Mobile
. Retromodulators for Free Space Data links
. Hybrid Optical RF Communications
. Free-space and Atmospheric Quantum Communications
. Other related topics: Chaos-based and Terahertz (THz) FSO Communications

Autorentext

Dr. Arun K. Majumdar is a research scientist and a former university professor. In the past he has worked in optical communications and research industries for over 28 years, was the Director of Research at LCResearch, Inc. in California. He served as a full Professor at the University of Colorado for five years, and served as a Visiting Professor at both NIST and at the Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic. Dr. Majumdar is a Springer book author and has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles, has written over 25 technical reports, and has given over 40 conference presentations. He is a member of IEEE, OSA, and SPIE.