Beam wander relieved orbital angular momentum communication in turbulent atmosphere using Bessel beams

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Optical Communications
• Atmospheric Optics

Background:

• Optical beam wander is a significant challenge in free-space optical (FSO) communication, degrading signal quality.
• Atmospheric turbulence causes unpredictable deviations in the path of optical beams.

Purpose of the Study:

• To theoretically model and experimentally validate beam wander for Bessel beams in turbulent atmosphere.
• To investigate the performance of Bessel beams in orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing FSO systems under turbulence.
• To demonstrate the advantage of high-order Bessel beams in mitigating beam wander.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical derivation of a beam wander model for Bessel beams.
• Experimental measurements of beam wander for various orders of Bessel beams and turbulence strengths.
• Demonstration of OAM multiplexing/demultiplexing using Bessel beams in a simulated turbulent FSO channel.

Main Results:

• The derived beam wander model accurately predicts experimental observations for Bessel beams.
• High-order Bessel beams exhibit significantly less beam wander compared to lower orders in turbulent conditions.
• Bessel beams show reduced bit error rates and fluctuations in OAM multiplexing FSO communication under turbulence.

Conclusions:

• High-order Bessel beams are more resilient to atmospheric turbulence, mitigating optical beam wander.
• Bessel beams offer a promising solution for enhancing the stability and reliability of OAM multiplexing FSO communication systems.