Optical scintillation of a Gaussian beam in moderate-to-strong irradiance fluctuations

Cynthia Y. Young; Larry C. Andrews

doi:10.1117/12.356951

3 August 1999 Optical scintillation of a Gaussian beam in moderate-to-strong irradiance fluctuations

Cynthia Y. Young, Larry C. Andrews

Proceedings Volume 3706, Airborne Laser Advanced Technology II; (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.356951
Event: AeroSense '99, 1999, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

A model of irradiance fluctuations for a propagating optical wave in a weakly inhomogeneous medium is developed here under the assumption that small-scale irradiance fluctuations are modulated by large-scale irradiance fluctuations of the wave. The resulting scintillation index from this theory has the form (sigma) ₁² equals (sigma) _x² + (sigma) _y² + (sigma) _x² (sigma) _y² where (sigma) _x² denotes large-scale scintillation and (sigma) _y² denotes small-scale scintillation. By applying a modification of the Rytov method that incorporates an amplitude spatial frequency filter function under strong fluctuation conditions, tractable expression are developed for the scintillation index of a Gaussian beam wave that are valid under moderate- to-strong irradiance fluctuations. The expected scintillation of Gaussian beams predicted by these analytic models is compared to the experimental data previously published.

Citation Download Citation

Cynthia Y. Young and Larry C. Andrews "Optical scintillation of a Gaussian beam in moderate-to-strong irradiance fluctuations", Proc. SPIE 3706, Airborne Laser Advanced Technology II, (3 August 1999); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.356951

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