Detection of mixed OAM states via vortex breakup

We study the tilted lens technique for measuring the topological charge (TC) of an optical vortex and investigate how this technique works for optical vortices in mixed orbital angular momentum states (i.e. when one beam contains several components with different values of TC). We present experimental results and theoretical simulations for the measurement of the TC of mixed states. We investigate two different cases: when coherent interference (or addition) between components is present and when it is absent (incoherent addition). We discover that this technique is suitable for measuring the TC of the dominant component of a mixed state.