• DOI:10.1364/AOP.7.000066
• Corpus ID: 30119425

Optical communications using orbital angular momentum beams

@article{Willner2015OpticalCU,
  title={Optical communications using orbital angular momentum beams},
  author={Alan E. Willner and Hao Huang and Yan Yan and Yongxiong Ren and Nisar Ahmed and Guodong Xie and Changjing Bao and Long Li and Yinwen Cao and Zhe Zhao and Jian Wang and Martin P. J. Lavery and Moshe Tur and Siddharth Ramachandran and Andreas F. Molisch and Nima Ashrafi and Solyman Ashrafi},
  journal={Advances in Optics and Photonics},
  year={2015},
  volume={7},
  pages={66-106}
}

• A. Willner, Hao Huang, +14 authors S. Ashrafi
• Published 31 March 2015
• Physics
• Advances in Optics and Photonics

Orbital angular momentum (OAM), which describes the “phase twist” (helical phase pattern) of light beams, has recently gained interest due to its potential applications in many diverse areas. Particularly promising is the use of OAM for optical communications since: (i) coaxially propagating OAM beams with different azimuthal OAM states are mutually orthogonal, (ii) inter-beam crosstalk can be minimized, and (iii) the beams can be efficiently multiplexed and demultiplexed. As a result, multiple OAM states could be used as different carriers for multiplexing and transmitting multiple data streams, thereby potentially increasing the system capacity. In this paper, we review recent progress in OAM beam generation/detection, multiplexing/demultiplexing, and its potential applications in different scenarios including free-space optical communications, fiber-optic communications, and RF communications. Technical challenges and perspectives of OAM beams are also discussed.