Abstract

Analytical results are found for irradiance statistics of a plane wave propagating through uniformly turbulent air. They result from a new error analysis of approximations made in selective summation of diagram contributions to the iterated moment equations (in integral form). The results are determined by three regimes of the parameter $k^{7/6}{L}^{11/6}{C}_n^2$ determined by its location with respect to powers of the micro- and macroscale Fresnel numbers ${({\kappa }_m^{2}L/k)}^{-1/6}∾0.3$ and $(k{L}_0^2/L)∾{10}^4$ (the numerical values are for 0.6-μm radiation and a horizontal pathlength L ∾ 1 km). The modified-Rytov result is found in the lowest regime. Irradiance I is log-normal in the intermediate (saturation) regime and the log-amplitude variance decays asymptotically as 0.41 ${({\kappa }_m^{7/3}{L}^3{C}_n^2)}^{-1/6}$. When $k^{7/6}{L}^{11/6}{C}_n^2$ far exceeds the macroscale Fresnel number $k{L}_0^2/L$, the irradiance tends to an exponential distribution (in agreement with previous results).

© 1973 Optical Society of America

Strong irradiance fluctuations in turbulent air, II. Spherical waves*

D. A. de Wolf
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 63(10) 1249-1253 (1973)

Strong irradiance fluctuations in turbulent air, III. Diffraction cutoff*

D. A. de Wolf
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 64(3) 360-365 (1974)

Are Strong Irradiance Fluctuations Log Normal or Rayleigh Distributed?*

David A. de Wolf
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 59(11) 1455-1460 (1969)

Angle-of-arrival difference spectrum of a simple interferometer in turbulent air*

D. A. de Wolf
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 63(6) 657-660 (1973)

Theory of saturation of optical scintillation by strong turbulence: plane-wave variance and covariance and spherical-wave covariance

R. J. Hill
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 72(2) 212-222 (1982)