The performance bounds of an optical communication system using irradiance profile modulation

Abstract

We assess the performance bounds of an optical communication system that uses irradiance profile modulation. This modulation is based on the four different orders of vortex beams. To this end, we find the turbulence induced average irradiance profiles of Gaussian, Bessel–Gaussian and modified Bessel–Gaussian vortex beams on the receiver plane. Each one is then cross correlated against the free space equivalents. Plotting the cross-correlation coefficients, it becomes possible to identify the borders of correct decision and error regions, thus, deduce the performance bounds of such a system. When measured in terms of structure constant, i.e. the turbulence strength and the propagation length being fixed to 3 km, it is seen that the error region extends beyond the structure constant values of ${10}^{-13}{\text{m}}^{-2/3}$ and higher. There seem to be some variations with the beam type and the order of the vortex beam. The performance of Bessel–Gaussian vortex beam comes out to be slightly better than the rest.

Keywords:

• Vortex beams
• irradiance profile modulation
• turbulence