Scintillation of laser beams carrying orbital angular momentum propagating in a near-maritime environment

Abstract Laser beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) were propagated in a near-maritime environment along an 890 meter link across the Severn River at the United States Naval Academy. The OAM beams were generated using green light ( λ = 532 nm ) and etched spiral phase plates with different topological charges. The light intensity fluctuations of Gaussian and beams carrying OAM with topological charges of 1, 6, and 8 were measured and the scintillation indices of each beam were compared. Additionally, atmospheric turbulence was measured using a co-aligned scintillometer along the 890 meter propagation path. During testing, a wide range of atmospheric conditions occurred and the refractive index structure parameter measurements ranged from 5 × 1 0 − 14 down to 5 × 1 0 − 15 m −2∕3 . Our measurements of transmitted voltage in the radial intensity across the maritime link, and calculated scintillation index, for the Gaussian beam and laser beams carrying OAM indicate a weak reduction in scintillation index for increasing topological charge. To reduce the measurement uncertainty and improve upon statistical significance of our findings, additional testing is needed.