Data Detection and Code Channel Allocation for Frequency-Domain Spread ACO-OFDM Systems Over Indoor Diffuse Wireless Channels

Future optical wireless communication systems promise to provide high-speed data transmission in indoor diffuse environments. This paper considers frequency-domain spread asymmetrically clipped optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (ACOOFDM) systems in indoor diffuse channels and aims to develop efficient data detection and code channel allocation schemes. By exploiting the frequency-domain spread concept, a linear multi-code detection scheme is proposed to maximize the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) at the receiver. The achieved SINR and bit error ratio (BER) performance are analyzed. A computationally efficient code channel allocation algorithm is proposed to improve the BER performance of the frequency-domain spread ACO-OFDM system. Numerical results show that the frequency-domain spread ACO-OFDM system outperforms conventional ACO-OFDM systems in indoor diffuse channels. Moreover, the proposed linear multi-code detection and code channel allocation algorithm can improve the performance of optical peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR

A New Approach to Constrain Black Hole Spins in Active Galaxies Using Optical Reverberation Mapping

A tight relation between the size of the broad-line region (BLR) and optical luminosity has been established in about 50 active galactic nuclei studied through reverberation mapping of the broad Hbeta emission line. The R_blr-L relation arises from simple photoionization considerations. Using a general relativistic model of an optically thick, geometrically thin accretion disk, we show that the ionizing luminosity jointly depends on black hole mass, accretion rate, and spin. The non-monotonic relation between the ionizing and optical luminosity gives rise to a complicated relation between the BLR size and the optical luminosity. We show that the reverberation lag of Hbeta to the varying continuum depends very sensitively to black hole spin. For retrograde spins, the disk is so cold that there is a deficit of ionizing photons in the BLR, resulting in shrinkage of the hydrogen ionization front with increasing optical luminosity, and hence shortened Hbeta lags. This effect is specially striking for luminous quasars undergoing retrograde accretion, manifesting in strong deviations from the canonical R_blr-L relation. This could lead to a method to estimate black hole spins of quasars and to study their cosmic evolution. At the same time, the small scatter of the observed R_blr-L relation for the current sample of reverberation-mapped active galaxies implies that the majority of these sources have rapidly spinning black holes.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, to appear in ApJ