Correlation invariance unlocks robust calibration-free orbital-angular-momentum multiplexing transmission under dynamic scattering scenarios

TL;DR

This paper introduces correlation invariance, a novel method enabling robust, calibration-free orbital-angular-momentum multiplexed optical communication through dynamic scattering media, achieving high-fidelity data transmission without pre-calibration.

Contribution

The authors propose a correlation invariance technique that cancels out dynamic scattering effects, allowing single-shot, calibration-free reconstruction of OAM-multiplexed fields in real-time environments.

Findings

Achieved 99.61% accuracy in static scattering conditions.

Achieved 98.97% accuracy under dynamic scattering.

Enabled high-fidelity transmission of 24-bit RGB data without pre-calibration.

Abstract

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing offers a promising approach to high-capacity optical communication by harnessing the orthogonality of vortex beams. However, its practical deployment is severely limited in real-world settings where dynamic scattering media, such as turbulent atmosphere, distort multiplexed fields into random speckles and disrupt OAM demultiplexing. Although existing wavefront shaping and deep learning methods can mitigate static distortions, they fail under time-varying scattering conditions, leading to significant crosstalk and unreliable recovery. Here, we introduce a new concept, correlation invariance, which enables scattering-immune, robust OAM multiplexed transmission through dynamic media. By capturing orthogonally polarized speckle holograms in a compact common-path geometry and computing their intensity cross-correlation, dynamically imposed scattering phases are cancelled out while deterministic object information is preserved. This allows single-shot reconstruction of both amplitude and phase of the input OAM-multiplexed fields, without any pre-calibration or training. As a proof of principle, we demonstrate high-fidelity transmission of 24-bit RGB data with 99.61% accuracy under static scattering and 98.97% accuracy under dynamic scattering. This approach addresses a long-standing barrier in OAM-based systems and opens avenues for robust high-capacity optical communications, encryption, and imaging in dynamic scattering environments.