Orbital angular moment of a partially coherent beam propagating through an astigmatic ABCD optical system with loss or gain

Abstract

We derive the general expression for the orbital angular momentum (OAM) flux of an astigmatic partially coherent beam carrying twist phase [i.e., twisted anisotropic Gaussian-Schell model (TAGSM) beam] propagating through an astigmatic ABCD optical system with loss or gain. The evolution properties of the OAM flux of a TAGSM beam in a Gaussian cavity or propagating through a cylindrical thin lens are illustrated numerically with the help of the derived formula. It is found that we can modulate the OAM of a partially coherent beam by varying the parameters of the cavity or the orientation angle of the cylindrical thin lens, which will be useful in some applications, such as free-space optical communications and particle trapping.