Recovering the vorticity of a light beam after scattering

Abstract

We generate optical vortices and scatter them through a rough surface. However, the scattered light passing through a lens shows the same vorticity when probed at the Fourier plane. The vorticity is measured using a nonseparable state of polarization and orbital angular momentum of light as it cannot be confirmed by the standard interferometric technique. The observed vorticity is found to be independent of the amount of scattered light collected. Therefore, vortices can be used as information carriers even in the presence of scattering media. The experimental results are well supported by the theoretical results.