Simultaneous wireless data and power transfer for a 1-Gb/s GaAs VCSEL and photovoltaic link

We study the trade-off between energy harvesting and data communication for a two-meter wireless gallium-arsenide vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser and photovoltaic link. The use of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing with adaptive bit and power loading results in a peak data rate of 1041 Mb/s at a bit-error ratio (BER) of 2.2\times 10^{-3} under short-circuit conditions. The receiver is shown to provide power harvesting with an efficiency of 41.7% under the irradiance of 0.3 W/cm2 and simultaneous data communication with a rate of 784 Mb/s at a BER of 2.8\times 10^{-3}. The experimental system is envisioned to become a paradigm for next-generation wireless backhaul communications and Internet-of-Things applications.