TY - GEN
T1 - Reliability of detecting optical vortex with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor in a scintillated vortex beam
AU - Chen, Mingzhou
AU - Dainty, Chris
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - An optical vortex, which possesses positive or negative topological charge, can be used as an information carrier in a free-space optical communication system because its special properties. By detecting the vortex with a Shack- Hartmann wavefront sensor, one can extract the information transferred by a vortex beam. However, additional optical vortices can spontaneously appear in the beam propagating over a long distance in the atmosphere or through a strongly turbulent medium. As a result, the vortex beam will contain a significant number of new vortices besides the initial one in the system receiving aperture. This may destroy the information carried by the initial vortex. In the paper, we will describe the reliability of detecting vortex with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor in a scintillated vortex beam. The initial vortex can be detected even if the beam is strongly scintillated and with numerous newly emerged vortices. Numerical simulations and statistics show that the information can still be accurately interpreted to a certain extent from a vortex beam propagating through weak-to-strong atmospheric turbulence.
AB - An optical vortex, which possesses positive or negative topological charge, can be used as an information carrier in a free-space optical communication system because its special properties. By detecting the vortex with a Shack- Hartmann wavefront sensor, one can extract the information transferred by a vortex beam. However, additional optical vortices can spontaneously appear in the beam propagating over a long distance in the atmosphere or through a strongly turbulent medium. As a result, the vortex beam will contain a significant number of new vortices besides the initial one in the system receiving aperture. This may destroy the information carried by the initial vortex. In the paper, we will describe the reliability of detecting vortex with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor in a scintillated vortex beam. The initial vortex can be detected even if the beam is strongly scintillated and with numerous newly emerged vortices. Numerical simulations and statistics show that the information can still be accurately interpreted to a certain extent from a vortex beam propagating through weak-to-strong atmospheric turbulence.
KW - Atmospheric turbulence
KW - Free-space optical communication
KW - Optical vortices
KW - Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor
KW - Vortex beam
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70350455057&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1117/12.829501
DO - 10.1117/12.829501
M3 - Conference Publication
AN - SCOPUS:70350455057
SN - 9780819477811
T3 - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
BT - Optics in Atmospheric Propagation and Adaptive Systems XII
T2 - Optics in Atmospheric Propagation and Adaptive Systems XII
Y2 - 1 September 2009 through 3 September 2009
ER -