Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effect of atmospheric turbulence on the orbital angular momentum of hollow vortex beams

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Science China Information Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The phase fluctuation of Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) vortex beams induced by atmospheric turbulence affects the quantum phase associated with azimuth coordinates and affects the orbital angular momentum of the vortex beams. The measurement of orbital angular momentum is affected by the change in the classical phase and the quantum phase in the Hilbert space. This paper analyzes the additional random complex phase of the vortex beam generated by the atmospheric turbulence and discusses the effect of atmospheric turbulence on the orbital angular momentum of an LG vortex beam using the photon state-vector function. The distributions of the classical phase of vortex beams affected by turbulence of different strengths are calculated and compared with the case for LG vortex beams transmitted through free space. Results show that the atmospheric turbulence affects the phase value of LG vortex beams transmitted in the external field and significantly affects the beam phase structure in the near field. However, the effect of turbulence on the phase of vortex beams is insignificant for a transmission range z > 2000 m while the phase values vary slowly and gradually become constant.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Molina-Terriza G, Torres J P, Torner L. Management of the angular momentum of light: preparation of photons in multidimensional vector states of angular momentum. Phys Rev Lett, 2002, 88: 013601

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Torner L, Torres J P, Carrasco S. Digital spiral imaging. Opt Express, 2005, 13: 873–881

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Neil A T, MacVicar I, Allen L, et al. Intrinsic and extrinsic nature of the orbital angular momentum of a light beam. Phys Rev Lett, 2002, 88: 053601

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Cullet P, Gil L, Rocca F. Optical vortices. Opt Commun, 1989, 73: 403–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Allen L, Lembessis V E, Babiker M. Spin-orit coupling in free-space Laguerre-Gaussian light beam. Phys Rev A, 1996, 53: R2937–R2939

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Gibson G, Courtial J, Padgett M J. Free-space information transferusing light beams carrying orbital angular momentum. Opt Express, 2004, 12: 5448–5456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Andrews L C, Phillips R L. Laser Beam Propagation through Random Media. Bellingham: SPIE Optical Engineering Press, 1998

    Google Scholar 

  8. Wheelon A D. Electromagnetic Scintillation II: Weak Scattering. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003

    Book  Google Scholar 

  9. Xing J B, Xu G L, Zhang X P, et al. Effect of the atmospheric turbulence on laser communication system. Acta Photonica Sin, 2005, 34: 1850–1852

    Google Scholar 

  10. Qian X M, Zhu W Y, Rao R Z. Numerical simulation of turbulent effects of laser propagation along a ground-space slant atmospheric path. Infrared Laser Eng, 2008, 37: 787–792

    Google Scholar 

  11. Yi X X, Guo L X, Wu Z S. Study on the optical scintillation for Gaussian beam propagation in the slant path through the atmospheric turbulence. Acta Opt Sin, 2005, 25: 433–439

    Google Scholar 

  12. Huang Y B, Wang Y J. Numerical analysis of the scaling laws about focused beam spreading induced by the atmosphere. Acta Phys Sin, 2006, 55: 6715–6719

    Google Scholar 

  13. Ji X L, Huang T X, Lv B D. Spreading of partially coherent cosh-Gaussian beams propagating through turbulent atmosphere. Acta Phys Sin, 2006, 55: 978–982

    Google Scholar 

  14. Paterson C. Atmospheric turbulence and orbital angular momentum of singer for optical communication. Phys Rev Lett, 2005, 94: 153901

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Zhang Y X, Wang G G. Partially coherence vortex beams propagation in a turbulent atmosphere. Chin Opt Lett, 2005, 3: 559–561

    Google Scholar 

  16. Wang T, Pu J X, Rao L Z. Propagation of partially coherent vortex beams in the turbulent atmosphere. Opt Tech, 2007, 33: 4–9

    Google Scholar 

  17. Anguita J A M, Neifeld A, Vasic B V. Turbulence-induced channel crosstalk in an orbital angular momentum-multiplexed free-space optical link. Appl Opt, 2008, 47: 2414–2429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Cang J, Zhang Y X, Xu J C. Intensity distribution of focused hollow vortex beams with a Gaussian background in turbulent atmosphere. Acta Photonica Sin, 2009, 38: 2122–2125

    Google Scholar 

  19. Zhao G Y, Zhang Y X, Wang J Y, et al. Defocus and astigmatic aberration of the turbulent atmosphere and the intensity distribution of a vortex carrying Gaussian beam. Acta Phys Sin, 2009, 59: 1378–1384

    Google Scholar 

  20. Xu J C, Zhang Y X, Zhu ZW, et al. Effect of atmospheric turbulence on photon states in single photon communication. Laser Technol, 2010, 34: 839–842

    Google Scholar 

  21. ITU-R. On propagation data and prediction methods required for the desigh of space-to-earth and earth-to-space optical communication systems. In: Radio Commuication Study Group Meeting, Budapest, 2001

    Google Scholar 

  22. Lukin V P. Atmospheric Adaptive Optics. Washington: SPIE Press, 1995

    Google Scholar 

  23. Andrews L C, Phillips R L. Beam Propagation through Random Media. Washington: SPIE Press, 2005

    Book  Google Scholar 

  24. Saleh B E A, Teich M C. Fundamentals of Photonics. New York: Wiley, 1991

    Book  Google Scholar 

  25. Yao Z X, Zho J W, Mao B N, et al. Unusual photons with unusual angular momentum. Sci China-Phys Mech Astron, 2009, 39: 669–680

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Faculty of Automation & Information Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, 710048, China

    XiZheng Ke, Juan Chen & Hong Lv

Authors
  1. XiZheng Ke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Juan Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hong Lv
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juan Chen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ke, X., Chen, J. & Lv, H. Effect of atmospheric turbulence on the orbital angular momentum of hollow vortex beams. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 56, 1–9 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-013-4781-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-013-4781-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation