Extended Data Fig. 6: Comparison of a guided high-order vortex in TVG (top) vs. unguided propagation with vortex splitting in free space (bottom) under perturbation.
From: Topological orbital angular momentum extraction and twofold protection of vortex transport
a1 Intensity distribution of C3-disclination lattice. a2 Intensity pattern of a high-order vortex beam with topological charge \(l=5\) at the onset distance. b1-b2 Output intensity after propagation in the C3-disclination lattice under background perturbation, selected at (b1) \(10\,{\rm{mm}}\) and (b2) \(20\,{\rm{mm}}\), highlighting that the \(l=5\) vortex is well-guided without breakup through the TVG. b3 Interferogram from the guided vortex corresponding to (b1), indicating that the high-order phase vorticity remains intact. c1-c3 Same layout as b1-b3 when the \(l=5\) vortex propagates in free space (without the disclination structure) under the same background noise. The vortex beam experiences significant expansion and distortion, in both intensity and phase profiles: in particular, the interferogram of (c3) exhibits clearly vortex splitting into multiple \(l=1\) phase singularities, marked by 5 dashed circles.
