Evolution of phase singularities of vortex beams propagating in atmospheric turbulence

Optical vortex beams propagating through atmospheric turbulence are studied by numerical modeling, and the phase singularities of the vortices existing in the turbulence-distorted beams are calculated. It is found that the algebraic sum of topological charges (TCs) of all the phase singularities existing in test aperture is approximately equal to the TC of the input vortex beam. This property provides us a possible approach for determining the TC of the vortex beam propagating through the atmospheric turbulence, which could have potential application in optical communication using optical vortices. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America