850-nm hybrid fiber/free-space optical communications using orbital angular momentum modes

Light beams can carry orbital angular momentum (OAM) associated to the helicity of their phasefronts. These OAM modes can be employed to encode information onto a laser beam for transmitting not only in a fiber link but also in a free-space optical (FSO) one. Regarding this latter scenario, FSO communications are considered as an alternative and promising mean complementing the traditional optical communications in many applications where the use of fiber cable is not justified. This next generation FSO communication systems have attracted much interest recently, and the inclusion of beams carrying OAM modes can be seen as an efficient solution to increase the capacity and the security in the link. In this paper, we discuss an experimental demonstration of a proposal for next generation FSO communication system where a light beam carrying different OAM modes and affected by ℳ turbulence is coupled to the multimode fiber link. In addition, we report a better and more robust behavior of higher order OAM modes when the intermodal dispersion is dominant in the fiber after exceeding its maximum range of operation.