Measurement of the bit-error rate of an adaptive optics, free-space laser communications system, part 2: multichannel configuration, aberration characterization, and closed-loop results

Abstract
We describe an experiment where we made a direct measurement of the bit-error rate of a high-order adaptive optics laser communications system. We describe a quantitative characterization of a repeatable atmospheric turbulence aberration generator and both static and dynamic characterizations of a 19-channel adaptive optics system. We show a reduction of the bit-error rate by a factor of 41.5 under specific laboratory conditions.