Coupling characteristics and kurtosis parameter of partially coherent beams in turbulent atmosphere

Coupling properties and kurtosis parameter (K parameter) of arbitrary beams propagating through atmospheric turbulence are investigated. A correlation factor (C⁴-factor) is introduced to describe the influence of turbulence on coupling characteristics. The general analytical expression for C⁴-factor of arbitrary beams in atmospheric turbulence is derived. It is shown that C⁴-factor of arbitrary beams in the turbulent atmosphere depends on the initial second-order moments and fourth-order moments and turbulence quantities. Taking the partially coherent anomalous elliptical hollow Gaussian (PCAEHG) beam as an example, we can obtain that C⁴-factor decreases as structure constant of the refractive index fluctuations and inner scale increase, and waist width and transverse coherence length decrease when z?>?5?km. Moreover, K parameter of PCAEHG beam in turbulent atmosphere converges to 2 when propagation distance is large enough. It indicates that the profile of PCAEHG beams in turbulent atmosphere finally evolves into fundamental Gaussian distribution.     

A comparative study of standard and elegant Hermite–Gaussian beams propagating through turbulent atmosphere

Based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel principle and the definition of the second-order moments of the Wigner distribution function (WDF), the analytical expressions for the root-mean-square (rms) beam width and far-field divergence angle, curvature radius and M ²-factor of standard Hermite–Gaussian (SHG) and elegant Hermite–Gaussian (EHG) beams passing through turbulent atmosphere are derived and compared. It is shown that in turbulent atmosphere the far-field divergence angle of SHG and EHG beams is equal under the same conditions, but the rms beam width, curvature radius and the M ²-factor of SHG and EHG beams are different except for beam orders m?=?0 and m?=?1. The relative rms beam width, relative curvature radius and relative M ²-factor of SHG beams are less than those of EHG beams. Therefore, the conclusion that SHG beams are less influenced by turbulence than EHG beams can be drawn if we examine one of the above three relative beam parameters.     

Average intensity and spreading of an astigmatic sinh-Gaussian beam with small beam width propagating in atmospheric turbulence

Propagation properties of astigmatic sinh-Gaussian beams (ShGBs) with small beam width in turbulent atmosphere are investigated. Based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel integral, analytical formulae for the average intensity and the effective beam size of an astigmatic ShGB are derived in turbulent atmosphere. The average intensity distribution and the spreading properties of an astigmatic ShGB propagating in turbulent atmosphere are numerically demonstrated. The influences of the beam parameters and the structure constant of atmospheric turbulence on the propagation properties of astigmatic ShGBs are also discussed in detail. In particular, for sufficiently small beam width and sinh-part parameter as well as suitable astigmatism, we show that the average intensity pattern converts into a perfect dark-hollow profile from initial two-petal pattern when ShGBs with astigmatic aberration propagate through atmospheric turbulence.     

Propagation of a random electromagnetic beam through a misaligned optical system in turbulent atmosphere

On the basis of the generalized diffraction integral formula for misaligned optical systems in the spatial domain, an analytical propagation expression for the elements of the cross-spectral density matrix of a random electromagnetic beam passing through a misaligned optical system in turbulent atmosphere is derived. Some analyses are illustrated by numerical examples relating to changes in the state of polarization of an electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beam propagating through such an optical system. It is shown that the misalignment has a significant influence on the intensity profile and the state of polarization of the beam, but the influence becomes smaller for the beam propagating in strong turbulent atmosphere. The method in this paper can be applied for sources that are either isotropic or anisotropic. It is shown that the isotropic sources and the anisotropic sources have different polarization properties on beam propagation.     

Evolution properties of the complex degree of coherence of a partially coherent Laguerre–Gaussian beam in turbulent atmosphere

Evolution properties of the complex degree of coherence of a partially coherent Laguerre–Gaussian beam (LGB) on propagation in free space and turbulent atmosphere are studied comparatively with the help of the general propagation formula for such beam. It is found that the behavior of the complex degree of coherence of a partially coherent LGB on propagation in turbulent atmosphere is much different from that in free space and is closely related to the initial beam parameters and the structure constant of the turbulent atmosphere. The distribution of the modulus of the complex degree of coherence of the partially coherent LGB finally becomes of Gaussian distribution at long propagation distance in turbulent atmosphere, and it becomes of Gaussian distribution more slowly with the increase of the mode orders, beam width and wavelength. Our results will be useful in long-distance free-space optical communications.     

Propagation of partially coherent flat-topped beams through a turbulent atmosphere

Based on the modified beam model for flat-topped beams and the Schell model for partially coherent light, an expression for partially coherent flat-topped (PCFT) beams has been proposed. The propagation characteristics of PCFT beams with circular symmetry through a turbulent atmosphere have been studied. By using the generalized Huygens-Fresnel integral and Fourier transform method, the expressions for the cross-spectral density function and the average intensity have been given and the analytical expression for the root-mean-square width has been derived. The effects of the beam order, the spatial coherence, and the turbulent parameter on the intensity distributions and beam spreading have been discussed in detail. Our results show that the on-axis intensity of the beams decreases with increasing turbulence and decreasing coherence of the source, whereas the on-axis intensity of the beams in the far field decreases slightly with increasing beam order. The relative spreading of PCFT beams is smaller for beams with a higher order, a lower degree of global coherence of the source, a larger inner scale, and a smaller outer scale of the turbulence.     

Propagation of partially coherent Lorentz and Lorentz–Gauss beams through a paraxial ABCD optical system in a turbulent atmosphere

Based on the generalized Huygens–Fresnel integral, propagation of partially coherent Lorentz and Lorentz–Gauss beams through a paraxial ABCD optical system in a turbulent atmosphere was investigated. Analytical propagation formulae were derived for the cross-spectral densities of partially coherent Lorentz and Lorentz–Gauss beams. As an application example, the focusing properties of partially coherent Gaussian, Lorentz and Lorentz–Gauss beams in a turbulent atmosphere and in free space were studied numerically and comparatively. It is found that the focusing properties of such beams are closely related to the initial coherence length and the structure constant of turbulence. By choosing a suitable initial coherence length, a partially coherent Lorentz beam can be focused more tightly than a Gaussian or Lorentz–Gauss beam in free space or in a turbulent atmosphere with small structure constant at the geometrical focal plane.     

Propagation factors of laser array beams in turbulent atmosphere

The propagation factors of phased locked laser array beams of radial and rectangular symmetries in a turbulent atmosphere are investigated based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel integral and the Wigner distribution function. Analytical propagation formulae for the propagation factors are derived and numerical examples are illustrated. We find that unlike their propagation invariant properties in free space, the propagation factors of laser array beams increase when propagating in turbulent atmosphere, and are closely related to the parameters of initial beams and the atmosphere.     

Propagation of Gaussian-Schell beam in turbulent atmosphere of three-layer altitude model

We propose a method that is used to derive the moment radius of intensity distribution in a turbulent atmosphere. From this study, we have found that the second moment radius is affected only by the first-order expansion coefficient of the wave structure function. If our attention is directed to a higher moment radius, a higher order approximation of the expansion needs to be used. As an example, the propagation of a Gaussian-Schell beam in a slant path has been studied based on the turbulent atmosphere of a three-layer model. The variation of some beam properties, such as the relative waist width, angular spread, and kurtosis parameter with the initial waist width, wavelength, and zenith angle, has been analyzed and discussed in detail. The study shows that there is little difference between the three-layer model and the Kolmogorov model in studying uplink propagation, and the difference is large for downlink propagation. The intensity profile of the Gaussian beam in turbulence does not keep a Gaussian shape unless the beam spreading due to turbulence is very large or very small.     

Spiral spectrum of anomalous vortex beams propagating in a weakly turbulent atmosphere

ABSTRACT

We study the spiral spectrum of anomalous vortex beams propagating through a turbulent atmosphere. Based on the Huygens–Fresnel integral and the Rytov approximation, the integral expression and then the analytical expression for the spiral spectrum of anomalous vortex beams in the weakly turbulent atmosphere are derived. The capacity of wireless optical links using the anomalous vortex beam is obtained. It is found that the spiral spectrum of the anomalous vortex beam is less affected by turbulence than that of the Laguerre-Gaussian beam. And thus, the information capacity of wireless optical links using the anomalous vortex beam is larger than that using the Laguerre-Gaussian beam. The influence of beam order, wavelength, topological charge, propagation distance, refractive index structure constant and the radius of receiver aperture on spiral spectrum is investigated. These results contribute to reduce the disturbing effects of atmospheric turbulence on the orbital angular momentum of the vortex beam.     

Hermite-cosine-Gaussian laser beam and its propagation characteristics in turbulent atmosphere

Hermite-cosine-Gaussian (HcosG) laser beams are studied. The source plane intensity of the HcosG beam is introduced and its dependence on the source parameters is examined. By application of the Fresnel diffraction integral, the average receiver intensity of HcosG beam is formulated for the case of propagation in turbulent atmosphere. The average receiver intensity is seen to reduce appropriately to various special cases. When traveling in turbulence, the HcosG beam initially experiences the merging of neighboring beam lobes, and then a TEM-type cosh-Gaussian beam is formed, temporarily leading to a plain cosh-Gaussian beam. Eventually a pure Gaussian beam results. The numerical evaluation of the normalized beam size along the propagation axis at selected mode indices indicates that relative spreading of higher-order HcosG beam modes is less than that of the lower-order counterparts. Consequently, it is possible at some propagation distances to capture more power by using higher-mode-indexed HcosG beams.     

Propagation properties of partially coherent radially polarized beam in a turbulent atmosphere

Based on the Huygens–Fresnel principle and the unified theory of coherence and polarization of partially coherent beams, we investigate the propagation characteristics of a partially coherent radially polarized doughnut (PCRPD) beam in a turbulent atmosphere. It is found that, after propagating through a turbulent atmosphere, the doughnut beam spot is changed into a circular Gaussian beam. Moreover, the degree of coherence, the degree of polarization and the degree of cross-polarization of the beam will change on propagation, and this change is dependent upon the degree of coherence of the source and atmospheric turbulence.     

Propagation properties of partially coherent dark hollow beam in inhomogeneous atmospheric turbulence

Abstract

Propagation properties of a partially coherent dark hollow beam (PC-DHB) in inhomogeneous atmospheric turbulence are studied in detail. Analytical formulae for the root-mean-square (rms) spatial width, rms angular width, M²-factor of PC-DHB in inhomogeneous turbulence are derived based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel integral. It is found that PC-DHB spreads in inhomogeneous turbulence more rapidly than the free space, and the saturation propagation distances (SPDs) of relative spatial and angular spreadings for uplink slant paths with zenith angles of 45° or less are about 5 and 0.6 km, respectively. M²-factor of PC-DHB in turbulence depends on beam order, waist width, inner scale of the turbulence and the SPD of the normalized M²-factor for the propagation with zenith angles of 45° or less is about 30 km. Our results are useful for the free space optical communications and the beam propagation in the slant path.     

Beam displacement as a function of temperature and turbulence length scale at two different laser radiation wavelengths

Narrow laser beams directed from aircraft may at times pass through the exhaust plume of the engines and potentially degrade some of the laser beam characteristics. This paper reports on controlled studies of laser beam deviation arising from propagation through turbulent hot gases, in a well-characterized laboratory burner, with conditions of relevance to aircraft engine exhaust plumes. The impact of the temperature, laser wavelength, and turbulence length scale on the beam deviation has been investigated. It was found that the laser beam displacement increases with the turbulent integral length scale. The effect of temperature on the laser beam angular deviation, σ, using two different laser wavelengths, namely 4.67 μm and 632.8 nm, was recorded. It was found that the beam deviation for both wavelengths may be semiempirically modeled using a single function of the form, σ=a(b+(1/T)(2))(-1), with two parameters only, a and b, where σ is in microradians and T is the temperature in °C.     

Beam scintillations for ground-to-space propagation. Part I: Path integrals and analytic techniques

We extend our theory of on-axis beam scintillations [Waves Random Media 4, 243 (1994)] for the case of propagation on slant turbulent paths, where turbulence is concentrated in a relatively thin layer near the transmitter. Our technique is based on the parabolic equation for optical wave propagation and the Markov approximation for the calculation of statistical moments of beam intensity. This first of two companion papers presents the details of the path integral formulation of the solution for the fourth-order coherence function. We also discuss in detail two analytic techniques that can be used for the treatment of the path integrals.     

Spectral changes of polychromatic stochastic electromagnetic vortex beams propagating through turbulent atmosphere

The unified theory of coherence and polarization and the propagation law of 2 × 2 cross-spectral density are employed to investigate spectral changes of the polychromatic stochastic electromagnetic vortex beam propagating in turbulent atmosphere. It is shown that the spectral changes of a polychromatic stochastic electromagnetic vortex beam in turbulent atmosphere differ from those of the beam without vortex. Specially, the on-axis relative spectral shifts exhibit not only blue-shift, but also red-shift. It is also shown that the topological charge, the correlation length and the refractive index structure constant influence the spectral changes of polychromatic stochastic electromagnetic vortex beams in a turbulent atmosphere.     

Analysing the behaviour of partially coherent divergent Gaussian beams propagating through oceanic turbulence

Theoretical study of propagation behaviour of partially coherent divergent Gaussian beams through oceanic turbulence has been performed. Based on the previously developed knowledge of propagation of a partially coherent beam in atmosphere, the spatial power spectrum of the refractive index of ocean water, extended Huygens–Fresnel principle and the unified theory of coherence and polarization, analytical formulas for cross-spectral density matrix elements are derived. The analytical formulas for intensity distribution, beam width and spectral degree of coherence are determined by using cross-spectral density matrix elements. Then, the effects of some source factors and turbulent ocean parameters on statistical properties of divergent Gaussian beam propagating through turbulent water are analysed. It is found that beam’s statistical propagation behaviour is affected by both environmental and source parameters variations.     

Beam combination of a linear array: Hermite-Gaussian superposition model

Abstract

Starting from the generalized Huygens-Fresnel diffraction integral and using a Hermite-Gaussian superposition model, an analytical propagation equation of the beam emitted from a linear array is derived and illustrated numerically. Furthermore, the beam quality of the resulting beam in terms of the M ²-factor and power in the bucket (PIB) is analysed. Interestingly, the M ²-factor in the × direction is dependent upon the separation distance of beamlets, but the PIB is not, because the latter is determined by the irradiance distribution in the far field and the bucket size chosen.     

Propagation property of a nonuniformly polarized beam array in turbulent atmosphere

A nonuniformly polarized beam array (NUBPA) is modeled by coherent superposition of a pair of orthogonally polarized spatial modes. The propagation of a NUPBA in turbulent atmosphere is investigated based on the extended Huygens-Fresnel method. An analytical expression for the intensity profile of a NUBPA in turbulent atmosphere is presented. The influence of polarization degree, intensity of turbulence, array number, and distance between adjacent elements on the intensity profile in the receiving plane is evaluated numerically and analyzed in detail.     

Propagation characteristics of partially coherent anomalous elliptical hollow Gaussian beam propagating through atmospheric turbulence along a slant path

Based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel principal and the Wigner distribution function, the root mean square (rms) angular width and propagation factor (M²-factor) of partially coherent anomalous elliptical hollow Gaussian (PCAEHG) beam propagating through atmospheric turbulence along a slant path are studied in detail. Analytical formulae of the rms angular width and M²-factor of PCAEHG beam are derived. Our results show that the rms angular width increases with increasing of wavelength and zenith angle and with decreasing of transverse coherence length, beam waist sizes and inner scale. The M²-factor increases with increasing of zenith angle and with decreasing of wavelength, transverse coherence length, beam waist sizes and inner scale. The saturation propagation distances (SPDs) increase as zenith angle increases. The numerical calculations also indicate that the SPDs of rms angular width and M²-factor for uplink slant paths with zenith angle of π/12 are about 0.2 and 20 km, respectively.