Ground-to-ETS-VI narrow laser beam transmission

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Abstract
Experimental results of laser beam transmission from a ground station to the engineering test satellite VI (ETS-VI) are presented. The ETS-VI that was launched in August last year has onboard laser communication equipment (LCE). A very narrow laser beam with less than 60 (mu) rad divergence was continuously transmitted to the LCE from a ground station, using a highly accurate satellite optical tracking technique. The optical power fluctuation detected at the LCE was very large. Its log-amplitude variance was about 0.5 and the maximum duration for the LCE to be able to receive an optical power more than the LCE communication detector sensitivity was about 50 milli-seconds. Theoretical analysis of laser beam fluctuation at a satellite is described and compared with the experimental results.

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