Effect of oceanic turbulence on the propagation behavior of a radially polarized Laguerre–Gaussian Schell-model vortex beam

Optical wireless communications applications are restricted by oceanic media-induced beam quality degradation. However, modulating the coherence and polarization structures of the laser beams can effectively diminish the negative influence of oceanic turbulence on the beams. The average intensity of a radially polarized Laguerre–Gaussian Schell-model vortex (RPLGSMV) beam propagating through oceanic turbulence is explored by employing the extended Huygens–Fresnel principle. We found that the average intensity of an RPLGSMV beam is greatly affected by oceanic turbulence with a large rate of dissipation of the mean-square temperature and a large relative strength of the temperature and salinity fluctuations as well as the small rate of dissipation of the turbulent kinetic energy per unit mass of fluid and small Kolmogorov microscale. It was also found that a RPLGSMV beam with a larger radial index, topological charge, initial coherent length, and beam waist has a stronger anti-turbulence ability. Our numerical findings may be of great significance for the detection and imaging of oceanic optical telecommunications links.