Expand this Topic clickable element to expand a topic
Skip to content
Optica Publishing Group
  • Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics
  • OSA Technical Digest (Optica Publishing Group, 1991),
  • paper CFN2

Numerical simulation of optical propagation through atmospheric turbulence

Open Access Open Access

Abstract

Simulations of waves through three-dimensional turbulence with inner scale have been performed. Simulations of point source and plane wave initial conditions show substantial differences, which are amplified if an inner scale is introduced into the turbulent spectrum. The results are in reasonable agreement with the results of laser propagation over kilometer-length paths in the atmosphere. The intensity patterns of the waves emerging from a turbulent medium with large inner scale show striking networks of caustics. If the small-scale tail of the turbulence spectrum is present, the large-scale caustic networks are diffused and less clear, but they are still present. The long tail of the probability density function at high intensity is precisely determined in the simulations, up to fifty times the mean intensity. Physical explanations for this long tail will be discussed. The behavior of the probability density function at very small intensity (fades) is also well determined, and this behavior puts important constraints on theoretical treatments. It is suggested that simulating impulse response (pulse propagation) rather than single-frequency propagation will elucídate some fundamental characteristics of waves through turbulence.

© 1991 Optical Society of America

PDF Article
More Like This
Numerical simulation of optical propagation through atmospheric turbulence

Stanley M. Flatté
TuG2 OSA Annual Meeting (FIO) 1990

Wave Optics Simulation of Propagation through Deep Turbulence

Donald J. Link
PTu2F.3 Propagation Through and Characterization of Distributed Volume Turbulence (pcAOP) 2013

Physics and Modeling of Optical Waves Propagating Through Atmospheric Turbulence

Ronald L. Phillips and Larry C. Andrews
PTu2I.1 Propagation Through and Characterization of Atmospheric and Oceanic Phenomena (pcAOP) 2018

Select as filters


Select Topics Cancel
© Copyright 2024 | Optica Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved