Single Element Multiplexing and De-multiplexing System for Free Space OAM Communications

Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) modes promise an exciting future for communications due to the infinite number available and their orthogonal nature. However modern implementations of OAM mode communications utilize a multi-element approach to multiplexing. This multi-element approach wastes power and becomes increasingly complex and expensive as the number of modes in the system increases. This makes the multi-approach method not scalable. In this thesis we explore single element OAM multiplexing and de-multiplexing. A system utilizing single element multiplexer and de-multiplexer, was designed built and qualified. We have demonstrated that such a system can easily achieve a BER of less than 1% and is thusly feasible