We consider the possibilities of information transmission in free space optical communication systems based on encoding with the help of the polarization structure of the synthesized laser beam. To control the polarization structure of beams, an approach based on the fiber array coherent combining with the possibility of changing the direction of subbeam polarization is used. On the basis of numerical simulation, the influence of atmospheric turbulent distortions, as well as the possibility of their adaptive compensation, is analyzed. Situations with different directions of subbeam polarization are considered. It is shown that, for the problems of information transmission, the most stable are the synthesized beams formed at the azimuthal or radial polarization of the subbeams.
The problem of information transmission by modulating the topological charge of the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of beams synthesized by an array of fiber lasers during radiation propagation through a turbulent atmosphere is investigated. The possibility of adaptive compensation for turbulent distortions of a beam in the periodic process of successive phase matching in the receiver plane and phase modulation in the initial radiation plane for information transmission is demonstrated for the first time. A mathematical model of the process of adaptive control for two modifications of the feedback loop and the results of OAM recognition by machine learning methods are presented.
The results of an experiment on formation of a scalar vortex beam in the system of coherent combining of fiber laser beams are reported. Stabilization of phase relations between optical beams is achieved by placing a helicoid phase forming diffraction optical element (DOE) made as a phase plate with helical phase profile in the active feedback loop. Time-stable vortex beams with the topological charge p = ±1 are obtained. The vortex character of the obtained beams is confirmed by the results of interferometric measurements.
The control over beams with distributed polarization opens new ways for a wide range of applications from optical communications to laser processing of materials. This paper proposes a simple and efficient method of controlling the spatial characteristics of azimuthally polarized beams synthesized as a result of coherent combining of Gaussian beams emitted by a spatially ordered array of fiber lasers. The proposed method is based on maintaining the specified phase relations between the array subbeams by placing a phase forming element - a liquid crystal spatial light modulator - in the active feedback loop. A distinctive feature of the proposed method is the possibility of full control over beams with distributed polarization with phase control of only one component of the electric field. This leads to the significantly simpler design of the experiment. The mathematical model of beam formation and the algorithm of phase control of beams with spatially distributed polarization are discussed. The generation of beams with spatially distributed polarization, including cylindrical vector beams (CVB) and optical vortex beams (OVB), is demonstrated experimentally. The results of the experiment with an array of six fiber lasers are in a good agreement with the results of numerical simulation.
We study how to control the orbital angular momentum, the intensity distribution, and the coherence length of a laser beam based on fiber array coherent combining. The features of the formation of nonzero orbital angular momentum of the beams when the controls the piston phase shift of the fiber array were theoretically and experimentally studied. A new method for controlling the distribution of the intensity of a light field synthesized on the basis of fiber array coherent combining were proposed. The possibilities of controlling the degree of spatial coherence of the synthesized laser beam were studied theoretically and experimentally.
The intermediate results of the experiment on vortex laser beam synthesis based on coherent combining laser subbeams formed by a fiber collimators array are presented. The wave field results from interference of individual subbeams in this case and is determined by the phase relationships between them. A functional diagram of the experimental setup is given. The experimental results of synthesis of a laser beam with an orbital angular momentum are described. It is suggested to use a spiral phase plate to determine the sign of the topological charge of an optical vortex; the efficiency of this approach is estimated.
The generation of optical beams with a possibility of quick variations in the orbital angular momentum (OAM) and the degree of spatial coherence is shown in laboratory experiments. The methods for OAM and coherence control are based on the phase control in the fiber array optical channels. The approach suggested allows one to change the OAM (the topological charge of a vortex beam) with a high speed determined by the phase shifter operation speed. The generation of a vortex beam is shown for six coherent Gauss-like beams arranged in a circle and having a constant phase shift between neighboring beams, providing the total phase shift equal to 2π around the circle. It is shown that the far field is characterized by an annular intensity distribution and a spiral-like distribution of the Poynting vector. In addition, the features of the OAM and the topological charge of a fiber-array-based vortex beam in a homogeneous medium are investigated in numerical experiments. The method for controlling the length of spatial coherence of the beam synthesized is based on introducing pseudo-random phase fluctuations in a fiber array. The value of the coherence length which exceeds the subbeam size is set by the correlation function of pseudo-random phase fluctuations in neighboring subbeams. The value of the coherence length smaller than beamlet size is set by the divergence of the subbeams with delta correlated phase fluctuations. The effect of the number of pseudo-random realizations of the fiber array phase on the average intensity distribution is studied in the laboratory experiments. The influence of the spatial coherence of the laser beam on the bit error rate of FSO communication systems in a turbulent atmosphere is studied theoretically.
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