Experimental Demonstration of a 100-Gbit/s 16-QAM Free-Space Optical Link Using a Structured Optical "Bottle Beam" to Circumvent Obstructions

We experimentally demonstrate a 100-Gbit/s 16-QAM free-space optical link using/tailoring an optical bottle beam to circumvent obstructions with different sizes and locations. Experimental results show ~10-dB less obstruction-induced power penalty compared to using a Gaussian beam for the obstruction with a diameter of ~4.5 mm.