Real-time synthesis of twisted Gaussian Schell-model beams and their applications in suppressing the turbulence-induced scintillation and beam wander

Twist phase is a unique degree of freedom in partially coherent optical fields, which produces photonic orbital angular momentum (OAM) similar to the vortex phase. In this Letter, we report a method for efficiently generating twisted Gaussian Schell-model (TGSM) beams using the Laguerre–Gauss (LG) mode decomposition via a digital micro-mirror device. By judiciously controlling the modal weight of each LG mode, we experimentally generate the high-quality TGSM beams in real time, only involving dozens of LG modes for superposition. Furthermore, experiments are carried out to investigate the intensity scintillation and beam wander behavior of the TGSM beams passing through atmospheric turbulence. We demonstrate for the first time, to our best of knowledge, that the twist phase can greatly reduce the turbulence-induced scintillation and beam wander. Our results show that the TGSM beam makes a 75% reduction of scintillation index compared to its counterpart without twist phase.