Beam wander of random electromagnetic Gaussian-shell model vortex beams propagating through a Kolmogorov turbulence

Abstract

Beam wander of random electromagnetic Gaussian-Shell model (EGSM) vortex beams propagating through atmospheric turbulence is investigated. We develop the expression for beam wander of random EGSM vortex beams in theory. The effects of topological charge, turbulence strength, initial spatially coherent length, transverse scale, and wavelength on beam wander are illustrated numerically. The numerical results show that vortex beams with both positive and negative topological charges have the same beam wander, decreasing the coherent length and decreasing the transverse scale, or increasing the topological charge, can decrease the beam wander. In free-space optical (FSO) communication, we can choose beams with smaller coherent length, smaller wavelength, and larger topological charge to reduce beam wander.