Scintillation behavior of Laguerre Gaussian beams in strong turbulence

In strong atmospheric turbulence, the asymptotic on-axis scintillation behaviors of Laguerre Gaussian (LG) beams are examined. To arrive at the strong-turbulence solution, we utilize the existing filtering approach for weak-turbulence solutions and our recently reported weak-turbulence scintillation index formula for LG beams. In the limiting case, our solution correctly predicts the asymptotic strong-turbulence behavior of Gaussian beam wave scintillation. Investigation of the scintillations versus the propagation distance, source size, wavelength and refractive index structure parameter lead to the conclusion that the LG beams with higher order radial modes can provide less scintillation. The results are applicable to long-haul atmospheric optical communication links.     

Scintillation calculations for partially coherent general beams via extended Huygens–Fresnel integral and self-designed Matlab function

We present scintillation calculations in weak atmospheric turbulence for partially coherent general beams based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel integral and a Matlab function designed to handle expressions both of the average intensity and the average squared intensity. This way, the integrations are performed in a semi-analytic manner by the associated Matlab function, and this avoids lengthy, time-consuming and error prone hand derivations. The results are obtained for the partially coherent fundamental and higher-order sinusoidal and annular Gaussian beams. By plotting the scintillation index against the propagation distance and source size, we illustrate the on-axis scintillation behaviors of these beams. Accordingly, it is found that within specific source and parameter ranges, partially coherent fundamental, higher-order sinusoidal and annular Gaussian beams are capable of offering less scintillations, in comparison to the fundamental Gaussian beam.     

Annular, cosh and cos Gaussian beams in strong turbulence

For the strong atmospheric turbulence regime, the asymptotic on-axis scintillation behavior of annular, cosh and cos Gaussian beams is theoretically derived and illustrated with numerical examples. It is observed from the plots that annular Gaussian beams exhibit more scintillations than a Gaussian beam, regardless of the amplitude coefficient and source size settings. For small source sizes, cosh Gaussian beams seem to have an advantage over Gaussian beams in terms of reduced scintillation, but for large source sizes a switchover occurs where cos Gaussian beams assume the advantage. Analysis of the effect of inner scale value shows that scintillations increases for all beams as the inner scale increases.     

Partially coherent Lorentz Gaussian beam and its scintillations

We study the scintillation aspects of partially coherent Lorentz Gaussian (LG) beams via numerically integrating the average and average squared intensity expressions. Within the examined range of input and propagation medium parameters, the LG beams are generally found to offer less and less scintillations against the pure Gaussian beam, particularly when the Lorentzian feature of the beam is emphasized more. This lower scintillation property is exhibited for collimated coherent beams with different Lorentz widths and at on-axis and off-axis positions of the receiver plane. When focusing is introduced, at shorter propagation distances the ordering of the beams remains as described above, but at longer propagations distances a complete reversing of the beam order is observed. Raising the turbulence levels by increasing the structure constant inevitably causes rises in scintillations, while preserving the advantage of LG beams over the pure Gaussian beam. Partial coherence reduces scintillations as expected, at the same time nearly eliminating the scintillation differences between the beam types.     

Annular beam scintillations in non-Kolmogorov weak turbulence

In a weakly turbulent atmosphere governed by the non-Kolmogorov spectrum, the on-axis scintillation index is formulated and evaluated when the incidence is an annular Gaussian type. When the power law of the non-Kolmogorov spectrum is varied, the scintillation index first increases, and reaches a peak value, then starts to decrease, and eventually approaches zero. The general trend is that when turbulence has a non-Kolmogorov spectrum with power law larger than the Kolmogorov power law, the scintillation index values become smaller. For all power laws, collimated annular Gaussian beams exhibit smaller scintillations when compared to pure Gaussian beams of the same size. Intensity fluctuations at a fixed propagation distance diminish for the non-Kolmogorov spectrum with a very large power law, irrespective of the focal length and the thickness of optical annular Gaussian sources.     

Scintillation advantages of lowest order Bessel–Gaussian beams

For a weak turbulence propagation environment, the scintillation index of the lowest order Bessel–Gaussian beams is formulated. Its triple and single integral versions are presented. Numerical evaluations show that at large source sizes and large width parameters, when compared at the same source size, Bessel–Gaussian beams tend to exhibit lower scintillations than the Gaussian beam scintillations. This advantage is lost however for excessively large width parameters and beyond certain propagation lengths. Large width parameters also cause rises and falls in the scintillation index of off-axis positions toward the edges of the received beam. Comparisons against the fundamental Gaussian beam are made on equal source size and equal power basis. PACS  42.25.Dd; 42.25.Bs; 42.68.Bz; 42.68.-w     

Scintillations of multiwavelength Gaussian, cos, cosh and annular Gaussian beams

We provide the scintillation formulation for a multiwavelength source. Within this context, the scintillation aspects of Gaussian, cos, cosh and annular Gaussian beams are investigated. For all situations examined, it is found that for a source comprising many wavelengths, there will be less scintillations as compared to a single wavelength source of the lowest wavelength and but the reverse will be true if the comparison is with respect to the single wavelength source of the highest wavelength. The same is observed at all propagation distances, source sizes, on-axis and off-axis positions considered. Additionally, it is seen that the scintillation characteristics of multiwavelength sources will follow similar trends of single wavelength sources. The analysis is based on the Rytov approximation, therefore our results are valid for conditions of weak atmospheric turbulence.     

Scintillations of Laguerre Gaussian beams

By using the Rytov method, we formulate and numerically evaluate the scintillations of Laguerre Gaussian beams in weak atmospheric turbulence. Our results indicate that at on-axis positions, Laguerre Gaussian beams with zero angular mode number will have less scintillations than fundamental Gaussian beams, where the amount of scintillations will further decrease with rising radial mode number. When off-axis positions are considered, this situation reverses however, and the scintillations of Laguerre Gaussian beams become generally higher than the fundamental Gaussian beam. Plotted against the source size, the on-axis scintillations of Laguerre Gaussian beams fall below the fundamental Gaussian beam, following the same trend as the fundamental Gaussian beam all throughout the source size range examined.     

Scintillations of laser array beams

The scintillation index of a laser array beam is analytically derived and numerically evaluated for weak turbulence conditions. On-axis as well as off-axis positions of the receiver plane are considered. Our graphical illustrations prove that at longer propagation ranges and at some midrange radial displacement parameters, laser array beams exhibit less scintillations, when compared to a fundamental Gaussian beam. However, when compared among themselves, laser array beams tend to have reduced scintillations with rising numbers of beamlets, longer propagation wavelengths, at midrange radial displacement parameters, at intermediate Gaussian source sizes, at bigger inner scales and smaller outer scales of turbulence. However, in this improvement, the number of beamlets does not seem to have a major role. PACS 42.25.Dd; 42.25.Ja; 42.25.Kb     

Intensity fluctuations of partially coherent laser beam arrays in?weak atmospheric turbulence

The intensity fluctuation of a partially coherent laser beam array is examined. For this purpose, the on-axis scintillation index at the receiver plane is analytically formulated via the extended Huygens–Fresnel diffraction integral in conditions of weak atmospheric turbulence. The effects of the propagation length, number of beamlets, radial distance, source size, wavelength of operation and coherence level on the scintillation index are investigated for a horizontal propagation path. It is found that, regardless of the number of beamlets, the scintillation index always rises with an increasing propagation length. If laser beam arrays become less coherent, the scintillation index begins to fall with growing source sizes. Given the same level of partial coherence, slightly less scintillations will occur when the radial distance of the beamlets from the origin is increased. At partial coherence levels, lower scintillations are observed for larger numbers of beamlets. Both for fully and partially coherent laser beam arrays, scintillations will drop on increasing wavelengths.     

Characteristics of scintillations and bit error rate of partially coherent rectangular array beams in turbulence

According to the paraxial form of the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle, the analytical formulas of the on-axis average irradiance and the on-axis scintillation index for a rectangular array Gaussian Schell-model (RAGSM) beams in atmospheric turbulence have been derived. The on-axis bit error rate has been analyzed quantitatively. Their effects of the turbulence intensity, the initial correlation length, and the array parameters including the beamlet number (M and N) and the array separation distance (x₀ and y₀) have been discussed. The results show that the correlated and uncorrelated superposition RAGSM beams exhibit the different on-axis intensity distribution, the similar variation of the on-axis scintillation and the bit error rate. At the nearer propagation distance the on-axis scintillation rises against propagation distance with the increasing beamlet number and the decreasing array separation distance, whereas the situation is reversed at the farther propagation distance. The effects of array parameters on the bit error rate are similar to that on the scintillation. For a given propagation distance the scintillation index increases with the stronger coherence and the larger waist width of the array beam.     

Scintillations of partially coherent Laguerre Gaussian beams

Scintillations of Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) beams for weak atmospheric turbulence conditions are derived for on-axis receiver positions by using Huygens–Fresnel (HF) method in semi-analytic fashion. Numerical evaluations indicate that at the fully coherent limit, higher values of radial mode numbers will give rise to more scintillations, at medium and low partial coherence levels, particularly at longer propagation distances, scintillations will fall against rises in radial mode numbers. At small source sizes, the scintillations of LG beams having full coherence will initially rise, reaching saturation at large source sizes. For LG beams with low partial coherence levels, a steady fall toward the larger source sizes is observed. Partially coherent beams of medium levels generally exhibit a rising trend toward the large source sizes, also changing the respective positions of the related curves. Beams of low coherence levels will be less affected by the variations in the refractive index structure constant.     

椭圆涡旋光束在海洋湍流中的传输特性

本文采用分步相位屏方法来仿真椭圆涡旋光束在海洋中的实际传输情况,并对椭圆涡旋光束在海洋湍流中的传输光强和闪烁因子进行了仿真。研究发现,椭圆涡旋光束在海洋传输过程中,光斑会发生明显的旋转,同时光斑会产生暗核且暗核个数与光束的拓扑荷数相等。一个拓扑荷数为m的相位奇点会分裂成m个拓扑荷数为1的相位奇点,并且海洋湍流越强,光斑受到的干扰越严重。研究还发现,在较弱的海洋湍流中,随着传输距离的增加,椭圆涡旋光束的闪烁因子会低于高斯光束和涡旋光束的闪烁因子,而且在远距离处拓扑荷数越大闪烁因子降低越明显,同时也发现,传播一段距离后涡旋光束的闪烁因子会低于高斯光束的闪烁因子。在较强湍流中,椭圆涡旋光束的闪烁因子会交叠在一起。对于不同强度的海洋湍流,随着均方温度耗散率的增大,椭圆涡旋光束的轴上点闪烁因子也增大。在同一传输距离处,束腰宽度越小的椭圆涡旋光束闪烁因子越小。     

Effects of extremely strong turbulent medium on scintillations of partially coherent annular and flat-topped Gaussian beams

Scintillation index of partially coherent annular and partially coherent flat-topped Gaussian beams propagating in horizontal links is found at the receiver origin when these beams propagate in extremely strong atmospheric turbulence. Scintillation index of coherent versions of such beams attain unity saturation value whereas the decrease in the degree of source coherence results in the decrease of the scintillations. At a fixed degree of partial coherence, thin ring sized annular beams possess smaller scintillations than thick ones. For partially coherent flat-topped Gaussian beams, higher flatness yields smaller intensity fluctuations. In extremely strong turbulence, partially coherent annular and partially coherent flat-topped Gaussian beams have smaller scintillations when compared to partially coherent single Gaussian beam scintillations.     

Asymptotic analysis of finite-beam scintillations in a turbulent medium

Asymptotic analysis of on-axis intensity fluctuation variance of a finite-sized light beam is performed starting from the functional integral representation for the field in a random medium. Collimated, diverging and converging beams with different diffraction properties are considered. A complete set of asymptotes is obtained using the main and additional coherence channels approach to the fourth moment of field analyses. We study the conditions of weak and strong fluctuation regimes for all these types of beams and obtain relatively simple formulae for on-axis intensity variance, which are valid for the case of stratified turbulence. It is shown that scintillations in the vicinity of the beam focus are governed by double-scattering processes for weak scintillations and double scattering from coherence channels for strong fluctuations.     

Influence of turbulence on the spectrum of diffracted chirped Gaussian pulsed beams

The influence of turbulence on the spectrum of diffracted chirped Gaussian pulsed beams is studied in detail. By using the quadratic approximation of the Rytov’s phase structure function and the finite expansion of the aperture function, the analytical expression for the spectrum of diffracted chirped Gaussian pulsed beams propagating through atmospheric turbulence is derived. It is shown that in free space there exist the on-axis and off-axis multi-spectral switch for diffracted chirped Gaussian pulsed beams. However, the turbulence results in a decrease of the spectral transition height, and the spectral switch even disappears when the turbulence is strong enough, which is very different from the behavior of undiffracted chirped Gaussian pulsed beams. Specially, with increasing the strength of turbulence, the higher-order spectral switch disappears firstly for on-axis case, while the lower-order spectral switch disappears firstly for off-axis case. In free space the on-axis spectrum is blue-shifted after a certain propagation distance, but the on-axis spectrum is red-shifted after a shorter propagation distance when the turbulence is strong enough. The spectral transition height increases with increasing the chirp parameter and decreasing the pulse duration, and the odd number order position without spectral shift is independent of the chirp parameter and pulse duration.     

Scintillation index of astigmatic annular beams in a turbulent atmosphere

The scintillation properties of astigmatic annular beams in a weak turbulent atmosphere are investigated. Expression for the on-axis scintillation index of an astigmatic annular beam is derived. It is found that the scintillation index of an astigmatic annular beam can be smaller than that of a Gaussian beam, an elliptical Gaussian beam and a stigmatic annular beam in a weak turbulent atmosphere under certain conditions. The scintillation properties of astigmatic annular beams are closely controlled by its beam parameters.     

Optimized multiemitter beams for free-space optical communications through turbulent atmosphere

Using laser beams with less than perfect spatial coherence is an effective way of reducing scintillations in free-space optical communication links. We report a proof-of-principle experiment that quantifies this concept for a particular type of a partially coherent beam. In our scaled model of a free-space optical communication link, the beam is composed of several partially overlapping fundamental Gaussian beams that are mutually incoherent. The turbulent atmosphere is simulated by a random phase screen imprinted with Kolmogorov turbulence. Our experiments show that for both weak-to-intermediate and strong turbulence an optimum separation between the constituent beams exists such that the scintillation index of the optical signal at the detector is minimized. At the minimum, the scintillation reduction factor compared with the case of a single Gaussian beam is substantial, and it is found to grow with the number of constituent beams. For weak-to-intermediate turbulence, our experimental results are in reasonable agreement with calculations based on the Rytov approximation.     

Optimization of multilayer radial beam array in weak turbulent atmosphere

The on-axis scintillation index of multilayer radial beam array with incoherent combination propagating through weak turbulence is studied. The results indicate that for large beam number, the scintillation index can be reduced by adjusting beams on different concentric circles. Further studies manifest that optimum radii arrangement of the three-layer array can be adopted to get the smallest scintillation index.     

高斯波束在湍流大气斜程传输中的闪烁问题研究

根据光波斜程传输理论以及随高度变化的ITU-R湍流大气结构常数模型,将水平传输的修正里托夫方法推广到了斜程传输问题中。导出了高斯波束入射时,在零内尺度湍流谱模型及考虑湍流内尺度效应和外尺度效应条件下,从弱起伏湍流区到强起伏湍流区闪烁指数随斜程里托夫方差变化的计算公式。讨论了不同传播高度、不同湍流内、外尺度对高斯波束斜程传输闪烁指数的影响。最后将有关数值计算结果与实验测量结果进行了比较和验证。