Summary

This work found preliminary evidence that imparting orbital angular momentum onto Gaussian-mode laser beams can weakly improve their intensity stability in atmospheric turbulence. The experiment required building an 890-meter optical link across the Severn River and co-aligning it with a scintillometer to characterize the atmosphere during each measurement.

Key Contributions

  • Compared a Gaussian beam with OAM beams carrying topological charges of 1, 6, and 8
  • Measured beam scintillation across a real near-maritime link under varied atmospheric conditions
  • Observed a weak reduction in scintillation index as topological charge increased
  • Identified the additional measurement scale needed to improve statistical significance

This publication is from the Scintillation of Laser Beams Carrying Orbital Angular Momentum project.

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