Leonhard, NinaNinaLeonhardBerlich, RenéRenéBerlichMinardi, StefanoStefanoMinardiBarth, AlexanderAlexanderBarthMauch, SteffenSteffenMauchMocci, JacopoJacopoMocciGoy, MatthiasMatthiasGoyAppelfelder, MichaelMichaelAppelfelderBeckert, ErikErikBeckertReinlein, ClaudiaClaudiaReinlein2022-03-052022-03-052016https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/24518510.1364/OE.24.013157We explore adaptive optics (AO) pre-compensation for optical communication between Earth and geostationary (GEO) satellites in a laboratory experiment. Thus, we built a rapid control prototyping breadboard with an adjustable point-ahead angle where downlink and uplink can operate both at 1064 nm and 1550 nm wavelength. With our real-time system, beam wander resulting from artificial turbulence was reduced such that the beam hits the satellite at least 66% of the time as compared to merely 3% without correction. A seven-fold increase of the average Strehl ratio to (28 ± 15)% at 18 mrad point-ahead angle leads to a considerable reduction of the calculated fading probability. These results make AO pre-compensation a viable technique to enhance Earth-to-GEO optical communication.en620journal article