Mechanism and application of wavefront-polarization joint correction of radially polarized vortex beam in atmospheric turbulence

This study aims to address the issues of wavefront aberration and polarization distortion caused by atmospheric turbulence in free - space optical communication. We conduct research on the transmission characteristics of vectorial vortex beams based on the multi - phase screen transmission method in an anisotropic atmospheric turbulence channel. A joint modulation strategy leveraging vectorial adaptive optics for wavefront correction and polarization compensation is proposed and implemented. Specifically, wavefront correction is accomplished through polarization multiplexing and demultiplexing transmission. On this basis, polarization compensation is realized using a Gauss - Newton iterative algorithm based on two serial liquid crystal spatial light modulators. Our results demonstrate that after wavefront correction, the relative power increases from 0.9927, 0.8869, 0.7751 to 0.9962, 0.9964, 0.9944 at transmission distances of 100 m, 1 km, and 5 km, respectively. Then, after polarization compensation, the polarization correlation rises from 0.6444, 0.5395, 0.4393 to 0.8585, 0.9491, 0.9408. The optimization of the optical field's focusing characteristics, along with the enhanced stability of the interferometric optical field, offers a theoretical foundation for the wavefront - polarization composite correction technology in next - generation free - space optical communication systems.