Abstract
Free-space communication allows one to use spatial mode encoding, which is susceptible to the effects of diffraction and turbulence. Here, we discuss the optimum communication modes of a system while taking such effects into account. We construct a free-space communication system that encodes information onto the plane-wave (PW) modes of light. We study the performance of this system in the presence of atmospheric turbulence, and compare it with previous results for a system employing orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) encoding. We are able to show that the PW basis is the preferred basis set for communication through atmospheric turbulence for a system with a large Fresnel number product. This study has important implications for high-dimensional quantum key distribution systems.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 43-48 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of Modern Optics |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2 Jan 2014 |
Keywords
- free-space optical communication
- optical vortices
- quantum communications
- quantum key distribution
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics