Ince-Gauss beams in a turbulent atmosphere: the effect of structural parameters on beam resilience

Abstract

In this work, we present an extensive analysis on the nature and performance of Ince-Gauss (IG) beams, elliptical solutions of the paraxial wave equation (PWE) that carry orbital angular momentum (OAM), as information carriers in a turbulent atmosphere. We perform numerical simulations of the propagation of these beams, and focus on the effects that the order, degree, and ellipticity parameters have on the robustness of the beams. We find that the choice of basis in which a mode is constructed does not greatly influence the mode performance compared to the effect that the combination of order and degree values have.