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### Proceedings Paper

Increasing the data density of free-space optical communications using orbital angular momentum
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Paper Abstract

Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) light beams possess discrete values of orbital angular momentum (OAM) of l&barh; per photon, where l is the azimuthal index of the mode. In principle l can take on any integer number, resulting in an unlimited amount of information that can be carried by any part of the beam - even a single photon. We have developed a technology demonstrator that uses OAM to encode information onto a light beam for free-space optical communications. In our demonstrator units both the encoding and decoding of the orbital angular momentum states is achieved using diffractive optical components (holograms). We use 9 different OAM values; one value is used for alignment purposes, the others carry data.

Paper Details

Date Published: 20 October 2004
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 5550, Free-Space Laser Communications IV, (20 October 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.557176
Show Author Affiliations
Graham Gibson, Univ. of Glasgow (United Kingdom)
Johannes Courtial, Univ. of Glasgow (United Kingdom)
Mikhail Vasnetsov, Univ. of Glasgow (United Kingdom)
Steve Barnett, Univ. of Strathclyde (United Kingdom)
Sonja Franke-Arnold, Univ. of Strathclyde (United Kingdom)
Miles Padgett, Univ. of Glasgow (United Kingdom)

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5550:
Free-Space Laser Communications IV
Jennifer C. Ricklin; David G. Voelz, Editor(s)