Dr. Sarah A. Tedder Profile

Dr. Sarah A. Tedder

Researcher at NASA Glenn Research Ctr

SPIE Involvement:

Conference Program Committee | Editorial Board Member: Optical Engineering | Author

Publications (29)

Proceedings Article | 12 March 2024 Presentation + Paper

Experimental demonstration of coherent receiver with photonic lantern and digital signal processing

Aaron Yevick, Robert Bayne, Rafael Garcia, Vladimir Grigoryan, Robert Lafon, Sarah Tedder, John Veselka, Brian Vyhnalek

Proceedings Volume 12877, 1287711 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3003080

KEYWORDS: Digital signal processing, Receivers, Signal processing, Adaptive optics, Single mode fibers, Optical coherence, Signal detection

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Proceedings Article | 12 March 2024 Presentation + Paper

Testing of a photon-counting optical ground receiver with emulated space-to-ground link effects

Michael Marsden, Jennifer Downey, Sarah Tedder, Brian Vyhnalek

Proceedings Volume 12877, 128770Y (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3002471

KEYWORDS: Receivers, Clocks, Sensors, Field programmable gate arrays, Transmitters, Doppler effect, Telecommunications, Signal attenuation, Free space optical communications

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Proceedings Article | 12 March 2024 Presentation + Paper

Performance of a real-time photon counting optical receiver in the presence of emulated channel fading

Jennifer Downey, Yousef Chahine, Sarah Tedder, Evan Katz, Michael Marsden, John Clapham

Proceedings Volume 12877, 128770Z (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3002472

KEYWORDS: Receivers, Field programmable gate arrays, Detector arrays, Turbulence, Telecommunications, Beam divergence, Transmitters

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Free-space optical communication links with terrestrial ground stations experience fading due to atmospheric scintillation and beam pointing. Fiber-coupled receiver systems experience additional fading at the interface between the fiber and free-space optics of the telescope. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) has characterized a real-time photon-counting optical ground receiver system with an atmospheric fade emulation system. The receiver system is comprised of a fiber interconnect, an array of Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPDs), and a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based receive modem. Two fiber interconnect/detector architectures have been studied. One architecture uses a 70-mode photonic lantern coupled to seven single pixel SNSPDs. The other architecture uses a 10-mode Few-Mode Fiber (FMF) coupled to a 15-pixel SNSPD array. The receiver system complies with the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) optical communications high photon efficiency coding and synchronization standard, which uses Serially Concatenated convolutionally coded Pulse-Position Modulation (SCPPM). The CCSDS standard is designed for use in low photon flux missions, including the Orion Artemis-II Optical (O2O) communications demonstration. The standard utilizes a convolutional symbol interleaver which can be resized to mitigate different fades. The fade emulation system employed in this work emulates scintillation-induced, pointing-induced, and coupling-induced fading. This paper gives an overview of the real-time optical receiver system and the fade emulation system. It presents tests results which show the impact of fading on the performance on the receiver. The test results show that in the presence of channel fading, the 70-mode photonic lantern outperforms the 10-mode FMF under higher (𝐷/𝑟₀ = 9) turbulence conditions due to high fiber-coupling-induced fading and fiber coupling loss on the 10-mode FMF. When operating in lower turbulence (𝐷/𝑟₀ = 4), the 10-mode FMF outperforms the 70-mode photonic lantern. The paper also shows a larger convolutional interleaver improves the system performance as long as the receiver does not lose acquisition.

Proceedings Article | 11 March 2024 Presentation + Paper

The application of photonic lanterns in free space optical communications

Sarah Tedder

Proceedings Volume 12892, 1289209 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3001550

KEYWORDS: Receivers, Optical communications, Single mode fibers, Free space optical communications, Optical coherence, Fiber couplers, Wavefront sensors, Single photon detectors

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Proceedings Article | 15 March 2023 Presentation + Paper

A real-time optical ground receiver for photon starved environments

Jennifer Downey, Sarah Tedder, Brian Vyhnalek, Nicholas Lantz, Michael Marsden, William Simon, Thomas Bizon, Daniel Zeleznikar

Proceedings Volume 12413, 124130P (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2648325

KEYWORDS: Field programmable gate arrays, Receivers, Transmitters, Optical communications, Detector arrays, Telecommunications, Modulation

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Proceedings Article | 15 March 2023 Presentation + Paper

Fiber-detector subsystem loss comparison for a ground-based photon-counting optical receiver

Brian Vyhnalek, Sarah Tedder

Proceedings Volume 12413, 124130U (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2650848

KEYWORDS: Receivers, Turbulence, Spatial light modulators, Detector arrays, Fiber couplers, Telecommunications, Single photon detectors, Modulation, Atmospheric turbulence, Signal attenuation

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Proceedings Article | 15 March 2023 Poster + Paper

Statistical analysis of fading power vectors for real-time atmospheric channel emulation

Yousef Chahine, Evan Katz, Brian Vyhnalek, Sarah Tedder

Proceedings Volume 12413, 124131L (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2648447

KEYWORDS: Scintillation, Optical fibers, Free space optical communications, Receivers, Analytic models, Turbulence, Statistical modeling, Monte Carlo methods, Single mode fibers, Linear filtering, Statistical analysis

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Proceedings Article | 15 March 2023 Poster + Paper

Folded optical design for high fidelity atmospheric emulation with a spatial light modulator

Sarah Tedder, Yousef Chahine

Proceedings Volume 12413, 124131I (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2646884

KEYWORDS: Spatial light modulators, Reflection, Holograms, Optical design, Atmospheric optics, Wavefront sensors, Design and modelling, Atmospheric propagation

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Proceedings Article | 4 March 2022 Presentation + Paper

Insertion loss of a multi-plane light conversion device with few mode fiber outputs under atmospheric conditions

Sarah Tedder, Brian Vyhnalek, Yousef Chahine, Bertram Floyd

Proceedings Volume 11993, 1199305 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2607306

KEYWORDS: Turbulence, Spatial light modulators, Receivers, Holograms, Telescopes, Single photon detectors, Single mode fibers

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Proceedings Article | 4 March 2022 Presentation + Paper

Numerical phase space optics methods and applications to the analysis of fiber coupling efficiency in atmospheric turbulence

Yousef Chahine, Ferrill Rushton, Brian Vyhnalek, Sarah Tedder

Proceedings Volume 11993, 119930U (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2607513

KEYWORDS: Waveguides, Photonics, Atmospheric optics, Atmospheric propagation, Step index fibers, Graded index fibers, Geometrical optics, Fiber couplers, Turbulence, Wigner distribution functions, Optical phase space, Free space optical communications

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Proceedings Article | 5 March 2021 Presentation + Paper

An overview of key optical communications technologies under development at the NASA Glenn Research Center

Félix Miranda, Sarah Tedder, Brian Vyhnalek, Jennifer Downey, Adam Wroblewski, Casey Bakula, Evan Katz, John Lekki, Rachel Dudukovich, Alan Hylton, Daniel Raible, Robert Romanofsky

Proceedings Volume 11692, 116920X (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2579420

KEYWORDS: Aerospace engineering, New and emerging technologies, Space operations, Data communications, Telecommunications, Quantum key distribution, Mobile communications, Video, Space robots, Robotics

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Proceedings Article | 2 March 2020 Presentation + Paper

Neural network based photon counting of summed single photon receivers

Nicholas Lantz, Jennifer Downey, Brian Vyhnalek, Sarah Tedder

Proceedings Volume 11272, 112720P (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2545892

KEYWORDS: Signal detection, Signal to noise ratio, Signal processing, Sensors, Neural networks, Photodetectors, Photon counting, Interference (communication), Single photon, Receivers

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Proceedings Article | 2 March 2020 Presentation + Paper

Measurements of few-mode fiber photonic lanterns in emulated atmospheric conditions for a low earth orbit space to ground optical communication receiver application

Sarah Tedder, Bertram Floyd, Yousef Chahine, Benjamin Croop, Brian Vyhnalek, Christopher Betters, Sergio Leon-Saval

Proceedings Volume 11272, 112720U (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2542848

KEYWORDS: Single mode fibers, Atmospheric propagation, Sensors, Receivers, Turbulence, Atmospheric modeling, Atmospheric optics, Telescopes, Earth's atmosphere

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Proceedings Article | 2 March 2020 Paper

Beam propagation through atmospheric turbulence using an altitude-dependent structure profile with non-uniformly distributed phase screens

Yousef Chahine, Sarah Tedder, Brian Vyhnalek, Adam Wroblewski

Proceedings Volume 11272, 1127215 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2543583

KEYWORDS: Turbulence, Atmospheric propagation, Scintillation, Atmospheric optics, Wave propagation, Beam propagation method

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Proceedings Article | 2 March 2020 Paper

Single-photon counting detector scalability for high photon efficiency optical communications links

Brian Vyhnalek, Jennifer Downey, Sarah Tedder

Proceedings Volume 11272, 112721A (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2546513

KEYWORDS: Signal detection, Photodetectors, Optical communications, Single photon detectors, Receivers, Photon counting, Optical fibers

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Proceedings Article | 2 March 2020 Paper

Acousto-optic modulator for emulating atmospheric fade in free-space optical communication systems

Evan Katz, Yousef Chahine, Brian Vyhnalek, Sarah Tedder

Proceedings Volume 11272, 1127219 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2546511

KEYWORDS: Atmospheric optics, Optical simulations, Receivers, Atmospheric modeling, Telecommunications, Turbulence, Atmospheric propagation, Signal attenuation

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Proceedings Article | 2 March 2020 Presentation + Paper

Detector channel combining results from a high photon efficiency optical communications link test bed

Jennifer Downey, Brian Vyhnalek, Sarah Tedder, Nicholas Lantz

Proceedings Volume 11272, 112720R (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2546394

KEYWORDS: Receivers, Optical communications, Photon counting, Monte Carlo methods, Signal detection, Photodetectors, Optical testing, Field programmable gate arrays

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Proceedings Article | 21 March 2019 Paper

Optical software defined radio transmitter extinction ratio enhancement with differential pulse carving

Nicholas Lantz, Jennifer Nappier, Brian Vyhnalek, Sarah Tedder

Proceedings Volume 10910, 109101Q (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2509874

KEYWORDS: Modulation, Signal attenuation, Clocks, Analog electronics, Radio optics, Optical modulators, Transmitters, Modulators, Interfaces, Astronomical imaging

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Proceedings Article | 12 March 2019 Presentation + Paper

Characterization of a photon counting test bed for space to ground optical pulse position modulation communications links

Jennifer Nappier, Brian Vyhnalek, Sarah Tedder, Nicholas Lantz

Proceedings Volume 10910, 1091009 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2507278

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Optical communications, Receivers, Photon counting, Telecommunications, Monte Carlo methods, Transmitters, Modulation, Computer simulations

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Proceedings Article | 4 March 2019 Presentation + Paper

Single-mode fiber and few-mode fiber photonic lanterns performance evaluated for use in a scalable real-time photon counting ground receiver

Sarah Tedder, Brian Vyhnalek, Sergio Leon-Saval, Christopher Betters, Bert Floyd, Jeremy Staffa, Robert Lafon

Proceedings Volume 10910, 109100G (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2507478

KEYWORDS: Single mode fibers, Receivers, Sensors, Telescopes, Digital micromirror devices, Fiber couplers, Spatial light modulators, Dispersion, Photon counting, Commercial off the shelf technology, Free space optical communications

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Photonic lanterns provide an efficient way of coupling light from a single large-core fiber to multiple small-core fibers. This capability is of interest for space to ground communication applications. In these applications, the optical ground receivers require high-efficiency coupling from an atmospherically distorted focus spot to multiple fiber coupled single pixel super-conducting nanowire detectors. This paper will explore the use of photonic lanterns in a real-time ground receiver that is scalable and constructed with commercial parts. The number of small-core fibers (i.e. an array of single or few-mode cores) that make a photonic lantern determines the number of spatial modes that they couple at the larger multimode fiber core end. For instance, lanterns made with n number of single-mode fibers can couple n number of spatial modes. Although the laser transmitted from a spacecraft originates as a Gaussian shape, the atmosphere distorts the beam profile by scrambling the phase and scattering energy into higher-order spatial modes. Therefore, if a ground receiver is sized for a target data rate with n number of detectors, the corresponding lantern made with single-mode fibers will couple n number of spatial modes. Most of the energy of the transmitted beam scattered into spatial modes higher than n will be lost. This paper shows this loss may be reduced by making lanterns with few-mode fibers instead of single-mode fibers, increasing the number of spatial modes that can be coupled and therefore increasing the coupling efficiency to single pixel, single photon detectors. The free space to fiber coupling efficiency of these two types of photonic lanterns are compared over a range of the free-space coupling numerical apertures and mode field diameters. Results indicate the few mode fiber lantern has higher coupling efficiency for telescopes with longer focal lengths under higher turbulent conditions. Also presented is analysis of the jitter added to the system by the lanterns, showing the few-mode fiber photonic lantern adds more jitter than the single-mode fiber lantern, but less than a multimode fiber.

Proceedings Article | 4 March 2019 Paper

Integrated photonics for NASA applications

Michael Krainak, Mark Stephen, Elisavet Troupaki, Sarah Tedder, Baraquiel Reyna, Jonathan Klamkin, Hongwei Zhao, Bowen Song, Joseph Fridlander, Minh Tran, John Bowers, Keren Bergman, Michal Lipson, Anthony Rizzo, Ipshita Datta, Nathan Abrams, Shayan Mookherjea, Seng-Tiong Ho, Qiang Bei, Yingyan Huang, Yongming Tu, Behzad Moslehi, James Harris, Andrey Matsko, Anatoliy Savchenkov, Guangyao Liu, Roberto Proietti, S. J. Yoo, Leif Johansson, Christophe Dorrer, Francisco Arteaga-Sierra, Jie Qiao, Songbin Gong, Tingyi Gu, Osgar John Ohanian, Xingjie Ni, Yimin Ding, Yao Duan, Hamed Dalir, Ray Chen, Volker Sorger, Tin Komljenovic

Proceedings Volume 10899, 108990F (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2509808

KEYWORDS: Waveguides, Modulation, Silicon, Modulators, Photonic integrated circuits, Graphene, Oscillators, Integrated photonics, Integrated optics, Silicon photonics

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NASA is working with US industry and academia to develop Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) for: (1) Sensors (2) Analog RF applications (3) Computing and free space communications. The PICs provide reduced size, weight, and power that is critical for space-based systems. We describe recent breakthrough 3D monolithic integration of photonic structures, particularly high-speed graphene-silicon devices on CMOS electronics to create CMOS-compatible highbandwidth transceivers for ultra-low power Terabit-scale optical communications. An integrated graphene electro-optic modulator has been demonstrated with a bandwidth of 30 GHz. Graphene microring modulators are especially attractive for dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) systems. For space-based optical communication and ranging we have demonstrated generating a variable number of channels from a single laser using breadboard components, using a single-sideband carrier-suppressed (SSBCS) modulator driven by an externally-supplied RF tone (arbitrary RF frequency), a tunable optical bandpass filter, and an optical amplifier which are placed in a loop. We developed a Return--to-Zero (RZ) Differential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK) laser transmitter PIC using an InP technology platform that includes a tunable laser, a Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA), high-speed Mach-Zehnder Modulator (MZM), and an electroabsorption (EAM) modulator. A Silicon Nitride (SiN) platform integrated photonic circuit suitable for a spectrally pure chip-scale tunable opto-electronic RF oscillator (OEO) that can operate as a flywheel in high precision optical clock modules, as well as radio astronomy, spectroscopy, and local oscillator in radar and communications systems is needed. We have demonstrated a low noise optical frequency combs generation from a small OEO prototypes containing very low loss (~1 dB) waveguide couplers of various shapes and sizes integrated with an ultrahigh-Q MgF2 resonators. An innovative miniaturized lab-on-a-chip device is being developed to directly monitor astronaut health during missions using ~3 drops of body fluid sample like blood, urine, and potentially other body fluids like saliva, sweat or tears. The first-generation system comprises a miniaturized biosensor based on PICs (including Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser – VCSEL, photodetector and optical filters and biochemical assay that generates a fluorescent optical signal change in response to the target analyte.

Proceedings Article | 4 March 2019 Presentation + Paper

Bit error rate performance of a free space optical link using double clad fibers

Joseph Sullivan, Bryan Schoenholz, Sarah Tedder

Proceedings Volume 10910, 1091004 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2510234

KEYWORDS: Optical fibers, Free space optics, Single mode fibers, Free space, Transceivers, Cladding, Optical testing, Multimode fibers

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Proceedings Article | 22 February 2019 Paper

Few-mode fiber coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors for photon efficient optical communications

Brian Vyhnalek, Sarah Tedder, Evan Katz, Jennifer Nappier

Proceedings Volume 10910, 109100D (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2510958

KEYWORDS: Single photon detectors, Fiber couplers, Optical communications, Superconductors, Nanowires, Sensors, Photodetectors, Receivers, Single mode fibers, Data communications

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Proceedings Article | 15 February 2018 Paper

Performance and characterization of a modular superconducting nanowire single photon detector system for space-to-Earth optical communications links

Brian Vyhnalek, Sarah Tedder, Jennifer Nappier

Proceedings Volume 10524, 1052419 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2290397

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Signal detection, Optical communications, Single photon detectors, Superconductors, Nanowires, Telecommunications

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Proceedings Article | 15 February 2018 Presentation + Paper

Exploration of double clad fibers for increased stability of bidirectional free space optical links

Sarah Tedder, Bryan Schoenholz, Joel Berkson, Bertram Floyd

Proceedings Volume 10524, 105240X (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2287428

KEYWORDS: Optical fibers, Tolerancing, Single mode fibers, Free space optics, Temperature metrology, Sensors, Receivers, Free space, Multimode fibers, Cladding

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Proceedings Article | 15 February 2018 Paper

Examining the ability of an FSO receiver to simultaneously communicate with multiple transmitters

Peter LoPresti, Shannon Suddath, Hazem Refai, Sarah Tedder, Bryan Schoenholz

Proceedings Volume 10524, 1052413 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2288499

KEYWORDS: Receivers, Turbulence, Transmitters, Free space optics, Signal processing, Optical fibers, Telecommunications, Relays, Data acquisition, Signal detection

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Proceedings Article | 15 February 2018 Presentation + Paper

Bit error rate performance on passive alignment in free space optical links using large core fibers

Bryan Schoenholz, Sarah Tedder, Patrick Millican, Joel Berkson

Proceedings Volume 10524, 1052415 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2290201

KEYWORDS: Optical fibers, Signal to noise ratio, Free space, Free space optics, Collimation, Multimode fibers, Control systems, Tolerancing, Single mode fibers, Interference (communication)

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Proceedings Article | 15 February 2018 Paper

Independent component analysis for processing optical signals in support of multi-user communication

Federica Aveta, Hazem Refai, Peter LoPresti, Sarah Tedder, Bryan Schoenholz

Proceedings Volume 10524, 105241D (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2290941

KEYWORDS: Turbulence, Independent component analysis, Free space optics, Transmitters, Receivers, Photodetectors, Signal processing, Wireless communications, Beam analyzers, Atmospheric turbulence

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Proceedings Article | 29 January 2018 Paper

Coincidence studies of entangled photon pairs using nanowire detection and high-resolution time tagging for QKD application

Evan Katz, Nathaniel Wilson, Ian Nemitz, Sarah Tedder, Brian Vyhnalek, Bertram Floyd, Tony Roberts, Pushkar Pandit, Skyler Baugher, Roger Tokars, John Pouch, John Lekki

Proceedings Volume 10559, 1055905 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2288474

KEYWORDS: Quantum efficiency, Sensors, Signal to noise ratio, Quantum key distribution, Photodetectors, Nanowires, Quantum communications, Picosecond phenomena

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Showing 5 of 29 publications

Conference Committee Involvement (3)

Free-Space Laser Communications XXXVII

28 January 2025 | San Francisco, California, United States

Free-Space Laser Communications XXXVI

30 January 2024 | San Francisco, California, United States

Free-Space Laser Communications XXXV

30 January 2023 | San Francisco, California, United States

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