Abstract

Two He–Ne lasers operating at 6328 Å have been utilized to make simultaneous measurements of the effects of scintillation over homogeneous optical paths of 650 and 1300 m to study the transfer of laser radiation through a turbulent medium. At the path terminus, multiple sampling of each laser beam was effected by use of a photo-optical technique that records a 61-cm cross section of an optical beam. Concurrent with the optical data, wind-speed and direction recordings were made at multiple points along the optical path in order to estimate the homogeneity of meteorological conditions. Near the path terminus, measurements of wind shear and temperature lapse were taken. In addition, high-speed-thermometry techniques were utilized to compute one-dimensional temperature spectra as well as the thermal structure coefficient C_T. Data were gathered during temperature-lapse, neutral, and inversion conditions. Log-irradiance scans derived from the optical data were used to compute log-irradiance power spectra, variance, and other statistical quantities. From these optical and meteorological data, optical-filter functions were calculated for spatial frequencies above 87 cycles/m and are used for comparison with current theories. The saturation of the log-irradiance data is again observed, and the isotropy of the irradiance fluctuations is examined.

© 1970 Optical Society of America

Saturation of Scintillation Magnitude in Near-Earth Optical Propagation*

Paul H. Deitz and Neal J. Wright
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 59(5) 527-535 (1969)

Measurements of Atmospheric Turbulence Relevant to Optical Propagation

R. S. Lawrence, G. R. Ochs, and S. F. Clifford
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 60(6) 826-830 (1970)

Saturation Calculation for Light Propagation in the Turbulent Atmosphere*

M. I. Sancer and A. D. Varvatsis
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 60(5) 654-659 (1970)

Photodetection of Low-Level Radiation through the Turbulent Atmosphere*

Paul Diament and M. C. Teich
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 60(11) 1489-1494 (1970)

Temporal-Frequency Spectra for a Spherical Wave Propagating through Atmospheric Turbulence

S. F. Clifford
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 61(10) 1285-1292 (1971)