MISALIGNMENT TOLERANT FREE SPACE OPTICAL TRANSCEIVER

摘要

In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a system has a transmitter and a receiver, where the transmitter includes a beam source (210) and an optical element (220). The beam source (210) produces a beam (212) that respresents information , and the optical element (220) alters the beam (212) so that the beam (222) has a uniform intensity over a cross-sectional area. The receiver is separated from the transmiiter by free space through which the beam (222) propagates and includes as active area positioned to receive a portion of the beam (222) that the receiver converts into a received signal. To accommodate possible misalignment, the cross-sectional area of the beam (222) is larger than the active area by an amount that accommodates a range of misalignment of the receiver with the transmitter.