Space-Division Demultiplexing in Orbital-Angular-Momentum-Based MIMO Radio Systems

Radio beams that carry nonzero orbital angular momentum (OAM) are analyzed from the viewpoint of a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication system. Often, the natural OAM-beam orthogonality cannot be fully exploited because of spatial constraints on the receiving antenna size. Therefore, we investigate how far OAM-induced phase variations can be exploited in spatial demultiplexing based on conventional (linear momentum) receivers. Performances are investigated versus position and size of the transmitting and receiving devices. The use of OAM-mode coherent superpositions is also considered, in view of recent work by Edfors et al. Our final goal is to assess the merits of an OAM-based MIMO system, in comparison with a conventional one.