Abstract

The relation between two waves propagating in opposite directions – the so-called bidirectional or counter-propagation- through a common path in turbulent atmosphere has been the subject of numerous theoretical and experimental studies. In most commonly considered double-pass and target-in-the-loop scenarios, a transmitted optical wave propagates through atmosphere toward a remote object (target) and then propagates back after being scattered off the object’s surface. The double-pass propagation results in several interesting effects including enhanced intensity and phase fluctuations of the backscattered (target-return) wave and enhanced correlation of power signals received at both ends of bidirectional point-to-point optical links. In this paper we discussed the integral relationships between the counter-propagating wave complex amplitudes known as overlapping integrals or interference metrics, which values are preserved along the propagation path. We show that the conservation property of these integral quantities of the counter-propagating waves can be utilized for atmospheric turbulence effects mitigation in directed energy, free-space laser communication and active imaging applications.

© 2013 Optical Society of America