Abstract

Refractive index inhomogeneities within the path traversed by a pulse of optical energy cause a nonuniform energy distribution across the wavefront of the pulse known as scintillation. It has been shown that this energy variation has a log normal distribution, characterized by a variance σ_E², which is a function of the degree of atmospheric turbulence. In this paper, we derive an expression for the detection probability of an optical pulse that has scintillation with a log normal variance σ_E² in the presence of normally distributed optical noise characterized by variance σ_N². The result is a convolution of scintillation and receiver detection statistics. The results of several calculations using different SNRs are presented graphically.

© 1976 Optical Society of America

The Effect of Atmospheric Scintillation on an Optical Data Channel–Laser Radar and Binary Communications

D. L. Fried and R. A. Schmeltzer
Appl. Opt. 6(10) 1729-1737 (1967)

Threshold detection in an on–off binary communications channel with atmospheric scintillation

William E. Webb and Joseph T. Marino
Appl. Opt. 14(6) 1413-1417 (1975)

Effects of time averaging on optical scintillation in a ground-to-satellite atmospheric propagation

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Laser wind sensing: the effects of saturation of scintillation

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The Effect of Scintillating Target Intensity Upon the Performance of a Pulse-Position Modulation Optical Tracker

Donn A. Allen and Marvin S. Stone
Appl. Opt. 5(4) 525-532 (1966)