Publication Date:
2018-04-14
Description:
The spatial structuring of optical fields is integral within many next generation optical metrology and communication techniques. A verifiable physical model of the propagation of these optical fields in a turbulent environment is important for developing effective mitigation techniques for the modal degradation that occurs in a free-space link. We present a method to simulate this modal degradation that agrees with recently reported experimental findings. A 1.5 km free-space link is emulated by decomposing the optical turbulence that accumulates over a long distance link, into many, weakly perturbing steps of 10 m. This simulation shows that the high-order vortex at the centre of the helical phase profiles in modes that carry orbital angular momentum of ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/images/1367-2630/20/4/043023/njpaaae9eieqn1.gif] {$| {\ell }| \geqslant 2{\hslash }$} are unstable and fracture into many vortices when they propagate over the link. This splittin...
Electronic ISSN:
1367-2630
Topics:
Physics
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