In this paper, the existence and transmission characteristics of gap vortex optical solitons in a honeycomb lattice are investigated based on the fractional nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Firstly, the band-gap structure of honeycomb lattice is obtained by the plane wave expansion method. Then the gap vortex soliton modes and their transmission properties in the fractional nonlinear Schrödinger equation with the honeycomb lattice potential are investigated by the modified squared-operator method, the split-step Fourier method and the Fourier collocation method, respectively. The results show that the transmission of gap vortex solitons is influenced by the
$ {\mathrm{L}}\acute{{\mathrm{e}}}{\mathrm{v}}{\mathrm{y}} $
index and the propagation constant. The stable transmission region of gap vortex soliton can be obtained through power graphs. In the stable region, the gap vortex soliton can transmit stably without being disturbed. However, in the unstable region, the gap vortex soliton will gradually lose ring structure and evolves into a fundamental soliton with the transmission distance increasing. And the larger the
$ {\mathrm{L}}\acute{{\mathrm{e}}}{\mathrm{v}}{\mathrm{y}} $
index, the longer the stable transmission distance and the lower the power of the bandgap vortex soliton. When multiple vortex solitons transmit in the lattice, the interaction between them is influenced by the lattice position and phase. Two vortex solitons that are in phase and located at adjacent lattices, are superimposed with sidelobe energy, while two vortex solitonsthat are out of phase are cancelled with sidelobe energy. These vortex solitons will gradually lose ring structure and evolve into dipole modes in the transmission process. And they are periodic rotation under the azimuth angle modulating. When two vortex solitons located at non-adjacent lattice, vortex solitons can maintain a ring-shaped structure due to the small influence of sidelobes. When three gap vortex solitons are located at non-adjacent lattices, the solitons can also maintain their ring-like structures. However, when there are more than three gap vortex solitons, the intensity distribution of vortex solitons are uneven due to the sidelobe energy superimposed. These vortex solitons will form dipole modes and rotate under the azimuthal angle modulating in the transmission process. These results can offer theoretical guidance for transmitting and controlling the gap vortex solitons in the lattice.