Experimental study of propagation properties of vortex beams in oceanic turbulence

The intensity of vortex beams always changes on propagation through oceanic turbulence, which is influenced by parameters of turbulence. This property is usually researched only by numerical simulation. Recently, a new method with a spatial light modulator (SLM) can be used in a laboratory to show various turbulence, which makes it possible to construct a system of a beam passing through turbulence by experiment. We investigate a vortex beam propagating through oceanic turbulence with a spiral phase plate and SLM in the laboratory and obtain the intensity distribution images by a charge-coupled device. Compared with the simulation results, the applicability of this method is more valid. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America