Average intensity and polarization properties of a cylindrical vector Laguerre–Gaussian beam passing through a paraxial ABCD optical system in a turbulent atmosphere

Based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel diffraction integral, the analytical expressions for the average intensity, the degree of the polarization, and the effective size of a cylindrical vector Laguerre–Gaussian beam passing through a paraxial ABCD optical system are derived in a turbulent atmosphere, respectively. The influences of the beam parameters and the atmospheric turbulence on the propagation of a cylindrical vector Laguerre–Gaussian beam in a turbulent atmosphere are examined in detail. It is found that the beam profile will finally tend to a Gaussian-like distribution, and the polarization distribution always has a dip in the cross section. This research is beneficial to the practical applications in free-space optical communications and the remote sensing of the cylindrical vector Laguerre–Gaussian beams.