Recent Advances in Underwater and Free-Space Optical Communications
A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical Communication and Network".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2027 | Viewed by 335
Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The ever-growing global demand for high-speed, high-bandwidth, secure, and low-latency communication has pushed conventional radio frequency and acoustic technologies to their limits—leading to the rise of optical wireless communication as a pivotal solution for both underwater and free-space communications.
Underwater optical communications serve as a superior alternative to acoustic technologies, delivering significantly higher data rates to support critical applications such as deep-sea exploration and collaboration among underwater unmanned combat systems. Meanwhile, free-space optical communications are revolutionizing terrestrial, airborne, and satellite networks, providing license-free, secure, and high-capacity links for air–space–ground integrated networks and emergency ground communications, thus addressing key gaps in next-generation communications.
Despite their immense potential, both underwater and free-space optical communication face formidable environment-specific challenges. Underwater optical communications must contend with the effects of complex underwater channels, including signal absorption, scattering by underwater particles, temperature- and salinity-driven turbulence, and alignment issues. Meanwhile, atmospheric turbulence is one of the most critical factors limiting the performance of free-space optical communications. When a laser beam propagates through the atmosphere, the refractive-index fluctuations caused by atmospheric turbulence will disrupt its coherence, resulting in a series of atmospheric turbulence effects, such as irradiance fluctuations, beam spreading, and angle-of-arrival fluctuations. To address the challenges posed by unstable transmission environments, this Special Issue aims to present recent advances in underwater and free-space optical communications research, with emphasis on turbulence mechanism analysis, channel modeling, and turbulence suppression technologies. We invite scholars in relevant fields to submit their manuscripts to this Special Issue to help promote technological breakthroughs and innovative applications in this key field.
Dr. Chao Zhai
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- underwater optical communications
- free-space optical communications
- atmospheric turbulence
- underwater turbulence
- adaptive optics
- optical propagation
- turbulence suppression
- orbital angular momentum
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