Abstract

Atmospheric scintillation studies have been traditionally undertaken utilizing nonimaging detection. When imaging devices are used, they typically detect the resultant signal at the receiver plane. Here, a high-speed camera has been utilized in atmospheric scintillation field trials, imaging a laser source (i.e., imaging the object plane) over a near ground path length of 1.5 km. The statistical nature of the acquired atmospheric scintillation data is characterized using a range of probability density functions. The exponentiated Weibull function was found to best describe the nature of scintillation over the broadest range of a scintillation index typical of atmospheric scintillation. A preliminary investigation into the relationship between the fit variables of three of the better-performing probability density functions and the scintillation index is presented, along with suggestions for future use of digital cameras in atmospheric scintillation studies.

© 2021 Optical Society of America

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