The effect of beam parameters on vortex beams propagating in atmospheric turbulence

The effect of beam parameters on the intensity profile of vortex beams propagating in the turbulent atmosphere and the scintillation properties of these beams are analyzed. A random phase screen model is utilized to perform this analysis. The scintillation properties are evaluated against the changes of topological charge, beam order, operating wavelength, receiver aperture side length, and source size parameters. The results show that using a flat-topped Gaussian vortex beam with a high topological charge causes a reduction in scintillation. Increasing the receiver aperture side length reduces the scintillation level. As the source size increases, scintillation decreases. The presented results also indicate that a flat-topped Gaussian vortex beam with high topological charges has less scintillation than the fundamental Gaussian beam. Moreover, the beams with higher topological charges and the ones operating at higher wavelengths preserve their beam profile better as they propagate. The beam order does not affect the beam profile. As the source size of the beam increases the intensity profile experiences dramatic changes concerning the beam propagating in free space. The findings of this dissertation will be useful in improving the performance of next-generation optical communication links and networks.