Review on vortex beams with low spatial coherence

Abstract

Vortex beams with helical phase, carrying phase singularity and orbital angular momentum, have attract great attention in the past decades due to their wide applications in optical communications, optical manipulation, super-resolution imaging and so on. Vortex beams with low spatial coherence, i.e. partially coherent vortex beams, carrying correlation singularity, display some unique properties during propagation, e.g. self-shaping, selfsplitting and self-reconstruction. Partially coherent vortex beams exhibit some advantages over coherent vortex beams in some applications, such as remote sensing, laser radar and free-space optical communications. This review summarizes research progress on partially coherent vortex beams, including theoretical models, propagation properties, generation and topological charge determination.

Coherence-induced polarization effects in vector vortex beams

“…Due to the interplay of coherence and polarization, the modulation in DOP on changing the correlation in fluctuating fields is expected in a standard Gaussian, Laguerre-Gaussian, Hermite-Gaussian, Bessel-like beams, etc. [4,5,[8][9][10]. In fact, beam-shaping by controlling field correlation between two transverse points (spatial coherence) in partially coherent vortex beams has been established [8].…”

“…[4,5,[8][9][10]. In fact, beam-shaping by controlling field correlation between two transverse points (spatial coherence) in partially coherent vortex beams has been established [8]. The fluctuating fields also manifest the change in the state of polarization (SOP) [4].…”

Correlation Optics, Coherence and Optical Singularities: Basic Concepts and Practical Applications

“…Important motivation of the correlation-optics approaches lies in the fact that the degree of coherence supplies an additional channel for the control and regulation of the main structural properties of propagating light fields. In particular, the beams with incomplete coherence demonstrate such unique properties as self-focusing, self-shifting, self-splitting and selfreconstruction during the free propagation [40,[88][89][90]. Especially interesting and rich of details patterns are available for beams with "non-conventional" correlation functions (NCCF) when the cross-spectral density differs from the "conventional" Gaussian form…”

“…Such beams can be used to reduce noise when taking a photograph and to implement classical phantom interference. Additionally, partially cohernt source beams contribute to formation of a desirable target intensity distribution, including flat-top or multi-lobe structures [40,88,89]. By controlling the spatial coherence of the input beam, one can control the symmetry of the target intensity distribution and, accordingly, of the cross-spectral density distributions [88,91].…”

Analyzing Polarization Transmission Characteristics in Foggy Environments Based on the Indices of Polarimetric Purity

“…In contrast, polarization can describe the information since the polarization state of photons could preserve better after scattering. Besides amplitude, phase, spatial distribution [2,3], polarization is another basic characteristic of electromagnetic wave, which can be utilized to transport information. When light interacts with objects, the polarization state of light will change accordingly, carrying the information of objects.…”