20 Gb/s Free Space Data Transmission with 980 nm Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers

Via standard nonreturn-to-zero two-level pulse amplitude modulation we achieve record single channel bit rates of 20 to 30 gigabits-per-second across free space with a 7-element top-emitting 980 nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser array – an enabling step toward energy-efficient Next Generation optical wireless communication systems.