Effect of scattering albedo on attenuation and polarization of light underwater

Recent work on underwater laser communication links uses polarization discrimination to improve system performance [Appl. Opt. 48, 328 (2009)] [in Proceedings of IEEE Oceans 2009 (IEEE, 2009), pp. 1–4]. In the laboratory, Maalox antacid is commonly used as a scattering agent. While its scattering function closely mimics that of natural seawaters, its scattering albedo can be much higher, as Maalox particles tend to be less absorbing. We present a series of experiments where Nigrosin dye is added to Maalox in order to more accurately recreate real-world absorption and scattering properties. We consider the effect that scattering albedo has on received power and the degree of depolarization of forward-scattered light in the context of underwater laser communication links

Propagation of modulated light in water: implications for imaging and communications systems

Until recently, little has been done to study the effect of higher modulation frequencies (>100 MHz) or short (<2 ns) pulse durations on forward-scattered light in ocean water. This forward-scattered light limits image resolution and may ultimately limit the bandwidth of a point-to-point optical communications link. The purpose of this work is to study the propagation of modulated light fields at frequencies up to 1 GHz. Results from laboratory tank experiments and their impact on future underwater optical imaging and communications systems are discussed

Investigation of the effect of scattering agent and scattering albedo on modulated light propagation in water

A recent paper described experiments completed to study the effect of scattering on the propagation of modulated light in laboratory tank water [Appl. Opt. 48, 2607 (2009)]. Those measurements were limited to a specific scattering agent (Maalox antacid) with a fixed scattering albedo (0.95). The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of different scattering agents and scattering albedos on modulated light propagation in water. The results show that the scattering albedo affects the number of attenuation lengths that the modulated optical signal propagates without distortion, while the type of scattering agent affects the degree to which the modulation is distorted with increasing attenuation length