  Polarization de-multiplexing and multiplexing by means of conical refraction
is proposed to increase the channel capacity for free space optical
communication applications. The proposed technique is based on the
forward-backward optical transform occurring when a light beam propagates
consecutively along the optic axes of two identical biaxial crystals with
opposite orientations of their conical refraction characteristic vectors. We
present experimental proof of usefulness of the conical refraction
de-multiplexing and multiplexing technique by increasing in one order of
magnitude the channel capacity at optical frequencies in a propagation distance
of 4m.
