Congratulations to Morton Lyu for the co-authorship of a paper published recently in Cell Reports Physical Science. This work is a collaboration with Rute A. S. Ferreira’s group in Portugal.

This work reports an advanced visible-light communication (VLC) system integrating an optical amplifier, made of a flexible fibre based on a poly(fluorene)-based lumophore doped within a di-ureasil organic-inorganic hybrid. VLC based on white light-emitting diodes has recently attracted much attention to provide high-bitrate data communication in indoor environments. One of the remaining challenges to be resolved to enable the proliferation of VLC systems is related to channel attenuation and multiple path fading. Our system offers a promising solution to overcome channel impairments, providing high bitrate coverage. Optical amplification is demonstrated for pre-amplifier and relay node scenarios, yielding a maximum gain of 5.9 G 0.2 dB and 3.7 G 0.2 dB, respectively, establishing the proposed approach as a promising cost-effective solution for VLCs. Additionally, numerical simulations show, for a realistic environment, a 207% improvement in the coverage area, using existing lighting infrastructure without extra cost.

Bastos, A.R., Lyu, G., Silvério, T., André, P.S., Evans, R.C., Ferreira, R.A.S.  Flexible Blue-Light Fiber Amplifiers to Improve Signal Coverage in Advanced Lighting Communication Systems. Bastos, A.R., Lyu, G., Silvério, T., André, P.S., Evans, R.C., Ferreira, R.A.S.  Flexible Blue-Light Fiber Amplifiers to Improve Signal Coverage in Advanced Lighting Communication Systems. Cell Rep. Phys. Sci. (2020), 1 (4), 100041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2020.100041