Vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum enable a new multiplexing dimension for optical wireless communications. However, atmospheric turbulence induces beam broadening, intensity scintillation, beam wander, angle-of-arrival fluctuations, and OAM crosstalk, degrading propagation performance. This review summarizes the fundamental theories of vortex beams and atmospheric turbulence, analyzes turbulence-induced effects, and surveys domestic and international research progress, introduces representative research achievements of the team from Xi'an University of Technology, and finally prospects the future development directions of this field. More >