Space laser conundrum

[GeeKay]

I'm writing a short SF story about first contact with ET (a hackneyed subject for sure). Still, everything has come to a juddering halt due to a problem about large-scale laser communications within the solar system, more particularly a laser com setup located on an asteroid in the Belt. The problem is to do with laser receivers, or detectors, as they're also called. I understand the basic technology behind them, but can't picture what one would look like in the flesh. Surely it wouldn't resemble a giant radio dish? (like the one at Jodrell Bank, for instance). Instead, images of antennae keep popping into my mind. I have no idea why. Apologies for the dumbness of this question.   

 

 

[swansont]

It would look a lot like a solar power array, which are also photon collectors. It could be a dish, if you wanted to do it that way (some solar power arrays act like that, with a mirrored surface rather than with a mesh)

edit:

The laser ranging with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is indeed a telescope dish. 

https://pgda.gsfc.nasa.gov/products/55

[GeeKay]

Thanks, swansont - many thanks too for the link, which I've saved. Something like a possibly dished solar power array, then? Interesting! 🙂

[swansont]

Most of the difference between collecting light for power vs signal would be in the electronics. The area of the dish/array would depend on the signal size. You’d need more than one, so that one would always be viewing the source.

[Halc]

Using a dish would focus on signals only from a very specific direction, and would not amplify signals from elsewhere.

Using a straight solar array would receive signals from all directions, great if you're just after electricity, but awful if you're trying to filter the noise away from the signal.