Exploring the origin of stronger survival of polarized vortex beams through scattering media

Abstract: Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) have shown promise in deep tissue imaging, medical diagnostics, and optical communication due to their robust propagation properties through scattering media. However, an exact model that provides a mechanism for the enhanced scattering properties of LG beams over Gaussian beams has not been established till date. Here, we examine this issue by studying the propagation of polarized vortex beams transmitted through tissue-like turbid scattering media. We demonstrate that the intensity profile has a much more profound effect on depolarization than the phase profile for LG beams. Our results indicate that the observed stronger propagation for the higher order LG beams is due to a higher anisotropy factor g as seen by the incident beam. This insight is expected to contribute towards building a complete picture of light transport in the presence of scattering, as well as guide optimization of the intensity and polarization structure of light for use in biomedical applications.