Optical Vortex Beam Propagation in Turbulent Atmosphere

Propagation of optical vortex beamlet (OVB) in turbulent atmospheric environment is studied theoretically by normalized models. Our simulation shows that optical vortex beamlet is superior to traditional Gaussian beam in terms of diffraction behavior of long haul propagation. Formation of vortex beam let is experimentally demonstrated by using a spatial light modulator (SLM), which achieve a power efficiency of more than 90% when the intrinsic loss in SLM is excluded.