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Optics and Opto-Electronics Laboratory

Optics and Opto-Electronics Laboratory

The Optics and Opto-Electronics Laboratory (OOEL) is a joint laboratory of the Optics (TEC-MMO) and Opto-Electroncis (TEC-MME) sections at ESTEC

The OOEL provides expert advice with a state-of-the-art laboratory to:

Evaluate promising novel technologies prior to industrial activities
Independently assess the outcome of industrial activities in support to ESA’s projects and Research & Development efforts
Experimentally support root-cause-analysis for system or component level malfunctions
Maintain hands-on experience and competence of staff and trainees (Young Graduate Trainees and interns)

Contact

For general enquires regarding this TEC location please refer to the assigned contacts:

Dana Tomuta

Laboratory Manager

Michal Miler

Laboratory Manager

For testing requests, access to lab facilities, training and consultancy services, please refer to:

THIRD PARTY ACTIVITIES

TPA Management system

Request

OOEL provides services in the following domains:

Laser-induced contamination mitigation

Laser-induced damage testing

Laser diode characterisation

CCD & CMOS detector validation

Tailored laser-based measurements

Stray light (angle-resolved scatterometry and BSDF) with data analysis

High-resolution spectral transmittance and reflectance (200 to 2500 nm)

Surface form and wavefront error (@633 nm)

Microscopic surface topography and 2d roughness profilometry (white light interferometry)

Solar simulator absolute irradiance radiometry

Spectral and Radiometric calibration

Optical communication terminal compliance and interoperability testing at physical and link layers, in fibre and free space

End-to-end optical communication payload and network-interface testing

Optical communication terminals building blocks (e.g. modem/transceivers, optical amplifiers, optical heads and sub-components) testing, with standard compliance and interoperability de-risking in mind

Related fields of interest

Related fields of interest include:

optical communication terminal compliance and interoperability,
physical- and link-layer verification,
optical link impairment emulation,
end-to-end payload and network-interface validation,
fibre-optic sensor networks,
optical multiplexing techniques,
advanced detectors and arrays,
effects of the space environment on opto-electronic devices

Detector Characterisation Facility (DCF) Shortwave Infrared Testbench. Credit: ESA-Remedia

High Power Laser Diode Laboratory (HPLD) - Test carrier assembly. Credit: ESA-Remedia

Laboratory Inspection - Scanning Electron Microscope. Credit: ESA-Remedia

Laser Operation Verification Facility (LOVF) beam monitoring bench. Credit: ESA-Remedia

Lab Overview

The laboratory's current emphasis is on characterising and/or calibrating detectors and small cameras, optical components, laser beams and other optical signals. Capabilities in testing and characterising optical and quantum communication links and technologies are being developed.

It includes a Class 10,000 (ISO 7) cleanroom, two fully equipped optoelectronics laboratories designed for the operation of Class 4 laser systems (defined as powerful enough to burn skin, cause permanent eye damage or ignite flammable material), workshop and storage rooms.

It has the equipment necessary to measure the optical spectrum, beam profile, power and energy, stability and modulation response, in free space as well as optical fibres.

The laboratory also provides an interoperability test environment for optical communication terminals. The capability combines fibre and free-space test paths with physical- and link-layer measurement, traffic generation and analysis, and configurable interfaces to representative payload or network equipment. It supports compliance, performance and multi-vendor interoperability testing, as well as end-to-end validation of optical communication data chains.

FACILITIES AND STATIONS

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Calibration facility

Calibration facility is intended to calibrate and support the on ground calibration campaigns of small instruments, sub-systems etc

Instruments & technical parameters

Calibrated Integrating Sphere

Sun Simulator (radiance exitance about 4-6x 10¹⁴[photons cm^-2nm^{-1 s-1}])

Photodiodes and spectrometers

Radiometer

CW tunable laser source

Detector Characterization Facility

The detector characterisation facility is used to characterise CCD detectors and cameras for Earth observation payloads. It is also used to optimise detector operations, produce custom readout electronics and as the ability to conduct cryogenic tests down to 100K and radiometric illuminations using QTH lamps, filters, LEDs or spot projectors amongst others.

Instruments & technical parameters

Testing bare CCD detectors

Optimisation of detector operation and data validation

Custom readout electronics

Radiometric illumination

QTH Lamp, filters and variable / Aperture Various LEDs, CW or pulsed / Spot Projector

Take Measurements of:

Dark current and DSNU
Non-linearity
Gain
Charge transfer efficiency
QE
PRNU
MTF

Optical Ground Station (Tenerife)

The Optical Ground Station, based in Tenerife, supports the in orbit testing of optical communication terminals. The station has a 1m telescope, can conduct realistic atmospheric test paths and optical feeder links for telecommunications satellites.

Instruments & technical parameters

1m telescope
2400m above sea level
Atmospheric test paths
Optical feeder links

Optical Link Emulator

The optical link emulator can be used to emulate optical communication link disturbances such as turbulence-induced scintillation and pointing errors in fiber and free-space. It can serve as a test source for characterising novel technologies and systems in optical communications.

Instruments & technical parameters

Tuneable narrow linewidth laser sources (two in C-band and two in L-band)

High-bandwidth fibre-based variable optical attenuator

Optical beam collimation and variable expansion (1 - 4x)

High-bandwidth tip-tilt generation by fine steering mirror

Scintillation and tip-tilt time series provided through optical link simulation suite and arbitrary waveform generators

Continuous test signal verification by power meter and SWIR camera spot centroiding

Optical Communication Terminal Interoperability Testbed

The Optical Communication Terminal Interoperability Testbed supports compliance, performance and interoperability testing of optical communication terminals at the physical and link layers. It provides configurable fibre and free-space test paths, allowing terminals and associated equipment from different suppliers to be exercised under controlled and repeatable conditions.

Beyond terminal-to-terminal interoperability, the testbed can connect representative payload and network equipment through standardized and configurable interfaces. This enables end-to-end verification of critical interfaces, traffic transport and recovery behaviour in representative communication chains. The facility is intended to support ESTOL as well as other optical communication standards (CCSDS) compliance verification, pre-compliance activities, interoperability campaigns, troubleshooting and mission-specific validation

Configurable fibre and free-space optical test paths

Physical-layer and link-layer compliance, performance and interoperability verification

Multi-vendor terminal-to-terminal and terminal-to-test-equipment configurations

Traffic generation and analysis for BER, frame/packet error and throughput assessment up to 400 Gbps per wavelength

Optical power, spectrum/wavelength, attenuation and receiver-performance measurements using OOEL instrumentation

Controlled optical-link impairments and emulations including dynamic time-series replay where applicable and high optical power outputs (up to 10W fiber attenuator and free space above)

Configurable client/data interfaces for connection of representative routers, payload equipment and network elements

End-to-end traffic and interface validation from payload/network equipment through the optical communication terminal

Automated test execution, monitoring and data logging for repeatable test campaigns

Support to ESTOL and CCSDS compliance verification and development of interoperability test methods

MEASUREMENTS

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Stray light measurement and analysis (BSDF)

Straylight characterisation of optical components is a critical parameter used to compute the overall straylight on instrument level.

Instruments & Technical parameters:

CASI scatterometer – high resolution close to specular (down to 0.10), multiple wavelengths available on request
Albatross TT – 3D Angular scatterometer @532nm
High-angular resolution scatterometer.

Interferometry

Optical metrology is an extremely versatile laboratory inspection tool, and has an important role to play in the verification of quality for optical surfaces. Laser interferometers support and enable the most demanding metrology applications and can characterize the Surface form and Wavefront error of optical components, such as lenses or mirrors.

Instruments & Technical parameters:

DynaFiz at 633 nm (100 mm diam, Range 31 to 6000 nm PV)

Optical inspection and topography

Optical surface quality and topography are complementary inspection techniques of optical surfaces.

Instruments & techical paramters:

White light interferometric microscope using Veeco/Brucker GTX8 3d surface topography at sub-nm level
Zeiss microscopes

Wavelength and spectrum

The absolute wavelength and optical spectrum of the device output can be measured using standard in-house instrumentation including a high-accuracy wavemeter, Fabry-Perot scanning interferometers and a miniature grating spectrometer.

Instruments & technical parameters

Wavemeter
FPSI
Grating spectrometers
Spectrophotometry
1 m f/7 Monochromator (180 to 2500 nm), Agilent/Cary 5000 (UV-VIS-NIR) spectrophotometer and multiple miniature fibre-fed monolithic spectrometers (Hamamatsu & Ocean Optics)
Integrating Sphere providing white light and in the future adapted to a CW OPO tunable laser

Power, intensity and frequency response

Laboratory engineers use a range of detectors, power and energy meters to measure the power and energy properties of continuous-wave and pulsed (or CW) light sources, from which emitter efficiency and input-output curves can be derived.

Instruments & technical parameters

Calibrated power and energy meters
Integrating sphere
Dedicated software
Automated positioning system
Radiometer

Beam profile and divergence

Beam quality is a key factor for the vast majority of laser applications. All aspects of the beam are measured, for example, the near-field and far-field profiles, beam quality and astigmatism. This is done with either an optical train or Shack-Hartmann grating with an accompanying charge-coupled detector (CCD).

Instruments & technical parameters

Computer vision system with dedicated software

Laser-induced contamination and damage

The laser-induced contamination and damage facility is capable of mitigating laser-induced damage and contamination risk for high-power laser systems. The facility can also screen materials to see if they pose a contamination risk and validate optics to see if they will be affected by the laser over their lifetime.

The aim is to characterise contamination on optical surfaces within the laser vessel as well as identify energy thresholds after which damage occurs. Tools in use include a cooled CCD camera to monitor the fluorescence emitted by the contaminated optical components and a scatter probe for LID.

Instruments & technical parameters

Dedicated vacuum chamber
High power UV Laser
Long-distance fluorescence microscopy kit
Telecentric 2D optical transmission measurement system
WLIM

Optical coatings spectral shift

During the air-vacuum transition optical coatings suffer a spectral shift, which can lead to significant change of the coatings performance. This phenomena varies depending on the coating manufacturing process. It can be characterized using an adequate light source and spectrometer.

Instruments & technical parameters

Various monochromatic, broadband and tuneable light sources
Calibrated sensors
Optical spectrometers

services

Testing

Test Infrastructure
Performance Evaluation
Qualification-tests & Validation tests
Test Beds Development
Test methods development
Life testing
Environmental testing (for instance Thermal Cycling Tests, Thermal Vacuum Test, etc)
Anomaly investigations
Characterisation
ESTOL compliance and pre-compliance verification
Optical communication terminal interoperability testing
Optical communication terminal interoperability testing
Fibre and free-space optical link testing
Multi-vendor interoperability campaigns
End-to-end payload / router-to-OCT traffic testing
Representative interface and traffic “test-as-you-fly” validation
Interoperability troubleshooting and root-cause investigations

Measurements

Prototyping
Advanced Metrology
SEM
Atmospheric LIDAR (Mobile)
OTDR
Wavemeter
Optical Spectrum Analysis
2D Transmission
Laser Characterisation
SWIR and VIS Detector Characterisation
LIC and LIDT Measurement
Optical communication terminal transmit and receive performance
BER / FER / packet-error and throughput measurements
Optical power, wavelength / spectrum and attenuation measurements
Receiver sensitivity and link-margin characterisation

Simulation

BER simulations of optical links
Optical communication link evolution (including spacecraft trajectory, ground station passes, intersatellite links, pointing error rejection, scintillation, optical link budget, etc.)
Generation and replay of representative optical-link impairment time series
Support to fibre and free-space communication-link emulation for interoperability campaigns