Huibin Zhou

Postdoctoral Scholar Research Associate

Optical Communications Laboratory (OCLab)

University of Southern California (USC), USA

Email: huibinzh@usc.edu

Google Scholar profile

Work Experience:

Postdoctoral Scholar Research Associate, Viterbi School of Engineering, Univ. of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, USA

2024 – present

Education:

Ph. D student in Electrical Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering, Univ. of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, USA (Advisor: Prof. Alan Willner)

2018 – 2024

M.S. in Optical Engineering, School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China (Advisor: Prof. Ming Tang)

2015 – 2018

B.S. in Optical Engineering, School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China

2011 – 2015

Awards and Honors

  • Photonics Society of Chinese Heritage (PSC) Tingye Li Memorial Scholarship 2023
  • Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship Winner (13 out of 188 submissions) 2020
  • “Top-Scored” paper and upgraded to an “Extended Talk” (Top ~3%) in European Conf. on Optical Comm. (ECOC) conference 2021
  • “Highly-Scored” papers (Top ~5%) in ECOC conference 2020 and 2022
  • Optica (formerly Optical Society (OSA)) Jean Bennett Student Travel Grant 2020
  • National Scholarship for Master Students of China 2016
  • Second Prize in Undergraduate Electronic Design Contest–Embedded System Design Contest 2014
  • Third Prize in ‘Imagine Cup’ Microsoft Science and Technology Contest of China 2014

Selected Research Projects

1. Turbulence mitigation in free-space optical (FSO) communications

  • Experimentally characterized atmospheric turbulence-induced beam distortion and link degradation
  • Demonstrated turbulence-resilient pilot-assisted self-coherent links with mitigation of turbulence
  • Demonstrated the self-coherent approach in mode-division multiplexed (MDM) FSO links using a photodetector array
  • Demonstrated turbulence mitigation using optical phase conjugation for coherent FSO links

Huibin Zhou, et al., Arxiv, 2024;   Huibin Zhou, et al., JLT, 2022 (ECOC “Highly Scored”);    Huibin Zhou, et al., JLT, 2023 (ECOC “Highly Scored”);     Huibin Zhou, et al., Opt. Letters, 2023 (“Editors’ Pick”);   Huibin Zhou, et al., Opt. Letters, 2024

2. High-capacity THz communications using multiplexing of structured THz beams

  • Demonstrated photonics-based approach for high-speed THz data signal generation at ~300 GHz
  • Demonstrated generation/detection/multiplexing of THz OAM beams using spiral phase plates
  • Demonstrated an 80-Gbit/s THz link by multiplexing 8 THz data channels on 2 polarizations, 2 frequencies, and 2 OAM modes

Huibin Zhou+, Xinzhou Su+, et al., Opt. Express, 2022

3. Utilizing longitudinally structured optical beams to probe atmospheric turbulence along a path

  • Proposed an approach of using longitudinally structured beams for probing turbulence along a path
  • Simulation for a 10-km path with up to 30-dB turbulence strength variation and uniform and low probing errors (~0.1 to ~0.3 dB) 
  • Demonstrated probing for two turbulence regions with ~15-dB difference in turbulence and <0.8 dB error

Huibin Zhou, et al., Nature Communications, 2023

4. Utilizing “novel” structured beams to enhance the robustness of FSO links

  • Designed and generated a structured optical “bottle” beam to help circumvent obstructions in FSO links
  • Demonstrated a 100-Gbit/s FSO link using an optical bottle beam with ~10-dB less power penalty
  • Designed and demonstrated optical “pin-like” beams with lower beam divergence for FSO links with a small receiver aperture at various distances

Huibin Zhou, et al., JLT, 2023 (ECOC “Top Scored”);    Alan Willner*, Huibin Zhou*, et al., JSTEQ, 2023 (Invited paper);   Nanzhe Hu, Huibin Zhou*, et al., Opt. Letters, 2022

5. High-capacity mid-IR free-space coherent link through fog

  • 10-Gbit/s mid-IR coherent link through fog using an Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) to generate a ~100-mW QPSK channel at ~3400 nm
  • Demonstrated a mid-IR link that can tolerate ~150X higher fog-induced loss than the near-IR link at ~1550 nm

Huibin Zhou, et al., JLT, 2024 (ECOC “Post-Deadline” paper);    Alan Willner*, Huibin Zhou*, et al., JLT, 2024 (Invited paper)

Publication Highlights

  • Authored and co-authored >130 publications (>60 journal papers and >70 conference papers)
  • First author and corresponding author of 30 of all publications
  • Published original research in high-impact journals, such as Journal of Lightwave Technology, Nature Communications, Nature Photonics, Optics Express, and Optics Letters
  • First authored papers include 1 Nature Communications paper, 3 invited journal articles, 1 Optics Letters “Editors’ Pick” paper, 2 European Conf. on Optical Comm. (ECOC) conference papers as “Highly Scored Paper”, 1 ECOC conference paper as “Top Scored Paper” and upgraded to an “Extended Talk”, and 1 ECOC “Post-deadline Paper”
  • Publications have been cited more than 1300 times (h-index: 19) based on Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MLV_Dl4AAAAJ&hl=en)

Selected Publications

Journal Articles:

  1. Alan E. Willner, Huibin Zhou, Yuxiang Duan, Zile Jiang, Muralekrishnan Ramakrishnan, Xinzhou Su, Kaiheng Zou, Kai Pang, “Advances in Multi-Channel Mid-IR Free-Space Optical Communications,” Invited Paper, IEEE/Optica Journal of Lightwave Technology, accepted for publication, 2024. (Co-corresponding author)
  2. Huibin Zhou, Yuxiang Duan, Murale Ramakrishnan, Zile Jiang, Xinzhou Su, Kaiheng Zou, Adam T. Heiniger, Moshe Tur, Alan E. Willner, “Demonstration of an Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO)-based High-Power Data Transmitter for a 10-Gbit/s QPSK Mid-IR Coherent Free-Space Link through Fog,” IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 42, no. 11, pp. 3989-3996, 2024.
  3. Huibin Zhou, Hao Song, Xinzhou Su, Yuxiang Duan, Kaiheng Zou, Runzhou Zhang, Moshe Tur, Alan E. Willner, “Turbulence Mitigation of Four Mode-Division-Multiplexed QPSK Channels in a Pilot-Assisted Self-Coherent Free-Space Optical Link Using a Photodetector Array and DSP-Based Channel Demultiplexing,” Optics Letters, vol. 49, no. 5, pp. 1209-1212, 2024.
  4. Alan E. Willner and Huibin Zhou, “Efficiently Adding Mode Multiplexing for Cost-Effective, High-Capacity Fiber Links,” Advanced Photonics, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 010502-010502, 2024. (Co-corresponding author)
  5. Huibin Zhou, Xinzhou Su, Yuxiang Duan, Hao Song, Kaiheng Zou, Runzhou Zhang, Haoqian Song, Nanzhe Hu, Moshe Tur, Alan E. Willner, “Atmospheric Turbulence Strength Distribution Along a Propagation Path Probed by Longitudinally Structured Optical Beams,” Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, page 4701, 2023.
  6. Alan E. Willner, Huibin Zhou, Xinzhou Su, Hao Song, Kai Pang, Haoqian Song, “Utilizing Structured Modal Beams in Free-Space Optical Communications for Performance Enhancement,” Invited Paper, IEEE/Optica Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, vol. 29, no. 6, page 3700213, 2023. (Co-corresponding author)
  7. Huibin Zhou, Yuxiang Duan, Hao Song, Xinzhou Su, Zhe Zhao, Kaiheng Zou, Haoqian Song, Runzhou Zhang, Robert Boyd, Moshe Tur, Alan E. Willner, “Automatic Turbulence Mitigation for Coherent Free-Space Optical Links using Crystal-Based Phase Conjugation and Fiber-Coupled Data Modulation,” Optics Letters, vol. 48, no. 8, pp. 2194-2197, 2023. * Paper selected as “Editors’ Pick”, 5 out of 60 in that issue*
  8. Huibin Zhou, Runzhou Zhang, Xinzhou Su, Yuxiang Duan, Haoqian Song, Hao Song, Kaiheng Zou, Robert W Boyd, Moshe Tur, Alan E. Willner, “Demonstration of Turbulence-Resilient Self-Homodyne 12-Gbit/s 16-QAM Free-Space Optical Communications using a Transmitted Pilot Tone,” Invited Paper, IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 41, no. 11, pp. 3438 – 3445, 2023.
  9. Nanzhe Hu, Huibin Zhou, Runzhou Zhang, Haoqian Song, Kai Pang, Kaiheng Zou, Hao Song, Xinzhou Su, Cong Liu, Brittany Lynn, Moshe Tur, and Alan E. Willner, “Experimental Demonstration of A “Pin-like” Low-Divergence Beam in a 1-Gbit/s OOK FSO Link Using a Limited-Size Receiver Aperture at Various Propagation Distances,” Optics Letters, vol. 47, no. 16, pp. 4215-4218, 2022. (Corresponding author)
  10. Huibin Zhou, Xinzhou Su, Amir Minoofar, Runzhou Zhang, Kaiheng Zou, Hao Song, Kai Pang, Haoqian Song, Nanzhe Hu, Zhe Zhao, Ahmed Almaiman, Shlomo Zach, Moshe Tur, Andreas F. Molisch, Hirofumi Sasaki, Doohwan Lee, and Alan E. Willner, “Utilizing Multiplexing of Structured THz Beams Carrying Orbital-Angular-Momentum for High-Capacity Communications,” Optics Express, vol. 30, no. 14, pp. 25418-25432, 2022. (Co-first author)
  11. Huibin Zhou, Nanzhe Hu, Xinzhou Su, Runzhou Zhang, Haoqian Song, Hao Song, Kai Pang, Kaiheng Zou, Amir Minoofar, Brittany Lynn, Moshe Tur, Alan E. Willner, “Experimental Demonstration of a 100-Gbit/s 16-QAM Free-Space Optical Link Using a Structured Optical Bottle Beam to Circumvent Obstructions,” Invited Paper, IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 40, no. 10, pp. 3277-3284, 2022.
  12. Huibin Zhou, Runzhou Zhang, Hao Song, Nanzhe Hu, Haoqian Song, Kaiheng Zou, Xinzhou Su, Zhe Zhao, Kai Pang, Ahmed Almaiman, Cong Liu, Amir Minoofar, Brittany Lynn, Daeyoung Park, Robert W. Boyd, Moshe Tur, and Alan E. Willner, “Demonstration of Turbulence Resiliency in a Mode-, Polarization-, and Wavelength-Multiplexed Free-Space Optical Link using Pilot-Assisted Optoelectronic Beam Mixing,” Invited Paper, IEEE/Optica Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 588-596, 2021. (Co-first author)
  13. Huibin Zhou, Hao Song, Zhe Zhao, Runzhou Zhang, Haoqian Song, Kai Pang, Kaiheng Zou, Cong Liu, Xinzhou Su, Nanzhe Hu, Robert Bock, Brittany Lynn, Moshe Tur, and Alan E. Willner, “Modal Properties of a Beam Carrying OAM Generated by a Circular Array of Multiple Ring-Resonator Emitters,” Optics Letters, vol. 46, no. 19, pp. 4722-4725, 2021.
  14. Huibin Zhou, Xiang Li, Ming Tang, Qiong Wu, Xi Chen, Ming Luo, Songnian Fu, Deming Liu, “Joint Timing/Frequency Offset Estimation and Correction Based on FrFT Encoded Training Symbols for PDM CO-OFDM Systems,” Optics Express, vol. 24, no. 25, pp. 28256-28269, 2016.
  15. Huibin Zhou, Borui Li, Ming Tang, Kangping Zhong, Zhenhua Feng, Jingchi Cheng, Alan Pak Tao Lau, Chao Lu, Songnian Fu, Perry Ping Shum, Deming Liu, “Fractional Fourier Transformation-based Blind Chromatic Dispersion Estimation for Coherent Optical Communications,” IEEE/Optica Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 34, no. 10, pp. 2371-2380, 2016.

Conference Proceedings:

  1. Huibin Zhou, Yuxiang Duan, Hao Song, Zile Jiang, Muralekrishnan Ramakrishnan, Xinzhou Su, Robert Bock, Moshe Tur, Alan E. Willner, “Ranging Through Turbid Underwater Using Structured Optical Beams,” Ocean Sensing and Monitoring XVI, SPIE, vol. 13061, pp. 56-63, 2024.
  2. Huibin Zhou, Yuxiang Duan, Murale Ramakrishnan, Zile Jiang, Xinzhou Su, Kaiheng Zou, Adam Heiniger, Moshe Tur, Alan E. Willner, “Demonstration of a 10-Gbit/s QPSK Mid-IR Free-space Coherent Link through Fog Using an Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO)-based High-Power Data Transmitter,” European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) 2023, “Post-Deadline” Paper, paper Th.C.3.1, Oct. 2023.
  3. Huibin Zhou, Hao Song, Xinzhou Su, Yuxiang Duan, Kaiheng Zou, Runzhou Zhang, Moshe Tur, and Alan E. Willner, “Demonstration of “Automatic” Turbulence Mitigation of 4 QPSK Channels in a Self-Coherent Free-Space Mode-Division-Multiplexed Link Using a Pilot Beam and Photodetector Array,” IEEE/Optica Conference on Optical Fiber Communications (OFC), paper Th3H.1, Mar. 2023 (Optica, Washington, D.C., 2023).
  4. Huibin Zhou, Runzhou Zhang, Xinzhou Su, Yuxiang Duan, Haoqian Song, Hao Song, Kaiheng Zou, Robert W. Boyd, Moshe Tur, and Alan E. Willner, “Demonstration of Turbulence-Resilient Self-Homodyne 12-Gbit/s 16-QAM Free-Space Optical Communications using a Transmitted Pilot Tone,” European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) 2022, paper Tu4F.4, Sept. 2022. * Paper selected as a “Highly-Scored” paper (~5% of the submissions) *
  5. Huibin Zhou, Xinzhou Su, Yuxiang Duan, Nanzhe Hu, Hao Song, Runzhou Zhang, Haoqian Song, Kaiheng Zou, Kai Pang, Moshe Tur, Alan E. Willner, “Experimental Probing of Atmospheric Turbulence Along the Propagation Direction Using a Single Transmitter Aperture and Multiple Pairs of Longitudinally Structured Beams,” APS/IEEE/Optica Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), paper STh4J. 5, May 2022 (Optica, Washington, D.C., 2022).
  6. Huibin Zhou, Nanzhe Hu, Xinzhou Su, Runzhou Zhang, Haoqian Song, Hao Song, Kai Pang, Kaiheng Zou, Amir Minoofar, Moshe Tur, and Alan E. Willner, “Experimental Demonstration of a 100-Gbit/s 16-QAM Free-Space Optical Link Using a Structured Optical “Bottle Beam” to Circumvent Obstructions,” European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) 2021, paper Th1B.3, Bordeaux, France, Sept. 2021.* Paper selected as a “Top-Scored” paper and upgraded to an invited “Extended Talk” (~3% of the submissions) *
  7. Huibin Zhou, Xinzhou Su, Amir Minoofar, Runzhou Zhang, Hao Song, Kai Pang, Kaiheng Zou, Haoqian Song, Nanzhe Hu, Zhe Zhao, Ahmed Almaiman, Shlomo Zach, Moshe Tur, Andreas Molisch, Hirofumi Sasaki, Doohwan Lee, Alan E. Willner, “Experimental Demonstration of 8-Gbit/s QPSK Communications Using Two Multiplexed Orbital-Angular-Momentum Beams in the 0.27-0.32 THz Range,” APS/IEEE/OSA Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), paper STh2F.7, May 2021 (Optical Society of America, Washington, D.C., 2021).
  8. Huibin Zhou, Hao Song, Runzhou Zhang, Nanzhe Hu, Kaiheng Zou, Haoqian Song, Kai Pang, Xinzhou Su, Cong Liu, Amir Minoofar, Brittany Lynn, Daeyoung Park, Moshe Tur, and Alan E. Willner, “Demonstration of Turbulence Resiliency in a Mode-, Polarization-, and Wavelength- Multiplexed Free-Space Optical Link using Pilot Tones and Optoelectronic Wave Mixing,” European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) 2020, paper We2G-4, Belgium, Brussels, Dec. 2020.* Paper selected as a “Highly-Scored” paper (~5% of the submissions) *
  9. Huibin Zhou, Hao Song, Zhe Zhao, Runzhou Zhang, Haoqian Song, Kai Pang, Cong Liu, Xin Zhou, Nanzhe Hu, Robert Bock, Brittany Lynn, Moshe Tur, and Alan E. Willner, “Modal Properties of a Beam Carrying OAM Generated by a Circular Array of Multiple Ring-Resonator Emitters,” OSA Frontiers in Optics (FiO) 2020, paper FW4D.1, Sept. 2020 (Optical Society of America, Washington, D.C., 2020).
  10. Huibin Zhou, Kaiheng Zou, Peicheng Liao, Ahmed Almaiman, Fatemeh Alishahi, Ahmad Falahpour, Amir Minoofar, Moshe Tur, and Alan E. Willner, “WDM Operation and Multiple Dispersion Elements for a Direct-Detection System using Phase Retrieval,” IEEE/OSA Conference on Optical Fiber Communications (OFC), paper W4A.4, San Diego, CA, Mar. 2020 (Optical Society of America, Washington, D.C., 2020).
  11. Huibin Zhou, Kaiheng Zou, Peicheng Liao, Yinwen Cao, Ahmed Almaiman, Fatemeh Alishahi, Ahmad Fallahpour, Moshe Tur, and Alan E. Willner, “Experimental Demonstration of Scalable and Reconfigurable Optical Generation of a 240-Gbit/s Super-channel Using a Single Stage of Multi-subchannel Nonlinear Wave-Mixing and Optical Frequency Comb,” European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC), paper P44, Dublin, Ireland, Sept. 2019.
  12. Huibin Zhou, Ming Tang, Xi Chen, Zhenhua Feng, Qiong Wu, Songnian Fu, Deming Liu, “Fractal Dimension Aided Modulation Formats Identification Based on Support Vector Machines,” European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC), paper P1.SC3.44, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2017.
  13. Huibin Zhou, Ming Tang, Zhenhua Feng, Xi Chen, Lin Gan, Songnian Fu, Deming Liu, “Joint Estimation of Time-frequency Impairments for Single Carrier Coherent Transmission System with FrFT Tailored Training Symbol,” IEEE/OSA Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC), paper W2A.58, Los Angeles, CA, Mar. 2017 (Optical Society of America, Washington, D.C., 2017).
  14. Huibin Zhou, Jiadi Wu, Ming Tang, Xi Chen, Songnian Fu, Perry Ping Shum, Deming Liu, “Joint Timing and Frequency Synchronization Based on FrFT Encoded Training Symbol for Coherent Optical OFDM Systems,” IEEE/OSA Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC), paper Tu3K.6, Anaheim, CA, Mar. 2016 (Optical Society of America, Washington, D.C., 2016).
  15. Huibin Zhou, Borui Li, Ming Tang, Zhenhua Feng, Songnian Fu, Perry Ping Shum, Deming Liu, “A Fast and Robust Blind Chromatic Dispersion Estimation Based on Fractional Fourier Transformation,” European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC), paper Th. 1.6.6, Valencia, Spain, 2015.