Reference-wave solutions for the high-frequency fields in inhomogeneous-background random media

Ray theory plays an important role in determining the propagation properties of high-frequency fields and their statistical measures in complicated random environments. For computations of the statistical measures it is therefore desirable to have a solution for the high-frequency field propagating along an isolated ray trajectory. A new reference wave is applied to obtain an analytic solution of the parabolic wave equation that describes propagation along the ray trajectory of the deterministic-background medium. The methodology is based on defining a paired-field measure as a product of an unknown field propagating in a disturbed medium and the complex-conjugate component propagating in a medium without random fluctuations. When a solution of the equation for the paired-field measure is obtained, the solution of the deterministic component can be extracted from the paired solution to determine the solution of the unknown field in an explicit form.     

Pulse propagation in randomly fluctuating media.

Pulse propagation in a weakly and randomly inhomogeneous medium is studied using a time-domain progressive wave equation. An eikonal-like approximated solution to the wave equation derived from the path integral representation is used to obtain the time-dependent statistics of pulses propagating through this random medium. This approach yields both a simple way of producing simulations of time series as well as their statistical properties.     

A comparison of the results of a numerical simulation and an approximate calculation of the statistical characteristics of radio waves in a layer with random inhomogeneities of dielectric permittivity

We consider the formation algorithm for a random inhomogeneity field of dielectric permittivity of a medium that is used in simulations of the statistical characteristics of a wave that has propagated through a randomly inhomogeneous layer. We carry out a comparison of the statistical characteristics of a geometrical-optics wave, obtained via a numerical simulation, with the results of calculations of these characteristics by approximate formulae obtained using perturbation theory. It is pointed out that the applicability limits of the perturbation method, when solving geometrical-optics equations in a randomly inhomogeneous medium, depend on the formulation (one- or two-point) of the trajectory problem. It is shown that a calculation of the spatial correlation function of the field can be carried out using the perturbation method, even in the case of relatively strong fluctuations of dielectric permittivity. This is due to the fact that, in the region where this function differs markedly from zero, the correlation function of the eikonal obtained by the perturbation method is sufficiently accurate, and amplitude fluctuations are small.     

Numerical simulations of random sound waves

We perform one-dimensional numerical simulations of both driven and impulsively generated sound waves propagating through a medium whose mass density admits time-independent, random fluctuations. While the amplitude of both types of wave is always attenuated, driven sound waves can be either retarded or speeded up depending on their wavenumber and amplitude and on the strength of the random field. The speed of a pulse propagating in the random medium is also altered, in agreement with the findings for the driven waves. The concomitant action of nonlinearity and randomness results in wave speeding for wavenumbers which are of the order of the size of an average random density fluctuation, whereas it gives retardation for larger wavenumbers.     

Path integrals for wave intensity fluctuations in random media

Approximate expressions for the fourth order moment of a wave propagating in a random medium are derived by using the path integral formulation. These solutions allow the spectrum of intensity fluctuations of a multiply scattered wave to be found, and they are valid at all distances in the medium. The results obtained by path integral methods turn out to be the same as those obtained previously by solving the parabolic partial differential equation for the fourth moment. The spatial frequency spectra of intensity fluctuations are evaluated for a medium in which the irregularities have a single scale and also for one in which there is a range of scale sizes.     

The evolution of polarization in an inhomogeneous birefringert,optically active medium

This note presents a method giving the change of polarization of an e.m. wave propagating in an inhomogeneous medium which is birefringent and optically active. The method has proved useful in a problem where the medium is a plasma with a magnetic field: it can be applied to other cases of interest, e.g. liquid crystals, as is here briefly discussed.     

Wave scattering in a multiscale random inhomogeneous medium

In this paper, using the Fock method of the fifth parameter and weighted Fourier-transform with respect to the coordinates of the source and observer, an integral representation is obtained for the wave field in a randomly inhomogeneous medium without invoking the assumption about small-angle propagation. Random trajectory variations to a first approximation are taken into account in calculating the partial wave phase (the expression under the integral sign). The expressions for the field in a medium with different-scale irregularities and for the scintillation index, obtained using this integral representation, are compared with known results. The good agreement with results from the theory of single scattering in a medium with background irregularities, and with investigations of the scintillation index made in terms of Rytov's method and path integrals, indicates that it is possible to use the approach developed in this study to describe the effects of simultaneous influence of different-scale irregularities.     

Retrieving the elastodynamic Green's function of an arbitrary inhomogeneous medium by cross correlation

A correlation-type reciprocity theorem is used to show that the elastodynamic Green's function of any inhomogeneous medium (random or deterministic) can be retrieved from the cross correlation of two recordings of a wave field at different receiver locations at the free surface. Unlike in other derivations, which apply to diffuse wave fields in random media or irregular finite bodies, no assumptions are made about the diffusivity of the wave field. In a second version, it is assumed that the wave field is diffuse due to many uncorrelated sources inside the medium.     

A uniform asymptotic integral representation for the fourth moment of the field of a wave propagating in a statistically homogeneous medium

In this paper, a uniform integral representation has been obtained for the fourth moment of the field of a wave propagating in a medium with random large-scale irregularities. The solution to the equation was obtained using a method of integral transformations and Maslov's complex WKB method. The representation obtained differs in its form from those reported thus far and in particular from those given by the method of two-scale expansions and the interference integral method. First, the paper considers the case of a plane wave incident on a layer with irregularities, followed by a treatment of the general case of an arbitrary source.     

Modeling of high-frequency propagation in inhomogeneous background random media

When a high-frequency electromagnetic wave propagates in a complicated scattering environment, the contribution at the observer is usually composed of a number of field species arriving along different ray trajectories. In order to describe each contribution separately the parabolic extension along an isolated ray trajectory in an inhomogeneous background medium was performed. This leads to the parabolic wave equation along a deterministic ray trajectory in a randomly perturbed medium with the possibility of presenting the solution of the high-frequency field and the higher-order coherence functions in the functional path-integral form. It is shown that uncertainty considerations play an important role in relating the path-integral solutions to the approximate asymptotic solutions. The solutions for the high-frequency propagators derived in this work preserve the random information accumulated along the propagation path and therefore can be applied to the analysis of double-passage effects where the correlation between the forward-backward propagating fields has to be accounted for. This results in double-passage algorithms, which have been applied to analyze the resolution of two point scatterers. Under strong scattering conditions, the backscattering effects cannot be neglected and the ray trajectories cannot be treated separately. The final part is devoted to the generalized parabolic extension method applied to the scalar Helmholtz's equation, and possible approximations for obtaining numerically manageable solutions in the presence of random media.     

脉冲波在空间等离子体介质中传播的矩分析及其应用

根据随机介质波传播理论，开展脉冲波在星际空间等离子体介质中的传播特性的分析方法研究.在强起伏条件下，推导双频互相关函数的二阶矩和四阶矩方程，利用不同电子密度模型，计算双频衍射强度相关函数和闪烁指数，并应用到闪烁的动态谱观测和相关分析中，得到自相关图谱、相关带宽和相关时间等闪烁特征参数，为脉冲在等离子体中的传输特性的分析，提供必要的理论基础.     

Time reversal of speckle noise

Focusing a wave in an unknown inhomogeneous medium is an open problem in wave physics. This work presents an iterative method able to focus in pulse-echo mode in an inhomogeneous medium containing a random distribution of scatterers. By performing a coherent summation of the random echoes backscattered from a set of points surrounding the desired focus, a virtual bright pointlike reflector is generated. A time-reversal method enables an iterative convergence towards the optimal wave field focusing at the location of this virtual scatterer. Thanks to this iterative time-reversal process, it is possible to focus at any arbitrary point in the heterogeneous medium even in the absence of pointlike source. An experimental demonstration is given for the correction of strongly distorted images in the field of medical ultrasound imaging. This concept enables envisioning many other applications in wave physics.     

Joint moments of the wave beam amplitude and inverse power in an absorbing random medium with lens properties

This paper presents a derivation of a system of closed equations for joint moments of the amplitude and inverse power of a wave beam propagating in a regularly inhomogeneous dissipative random medium. The radiation transfer in the medium is characterized by non-conservation of the total radiation energy flux and by the existence of power fluctuations. The statistics of the wave beam power fluctuations have been studied. Information on the power statistical characteristics is applied to close the system of equations for joint moments. For task parameters which are not very strict (an effective radius of the wave beam should be considerably less than the outer scale of the turbulence) a system of independent equations for arbitrary joint moments has been obtained. The equations for the first two lower joint moments of the beam intensity and inverse power have been solved analytically. With the solutions obtained the effective wave beam parameters were calculated, i.e. the beam mean displacement, effective broadening and tremble variance (the beam wandering variance) for the propagation of radiation in the refractive channel of an absorbing turbulent medium. Radically new characteristics of the behaviour of the effective parameters in random absorbing and transparent media have been revealed.     

Joint moments of the wave beam amplitude and inverse power in an absorbing random medium with lens properties

Abstract

This paper presents a derivation of a system of closed equations for joint moments of the amplitude and inverse power of a wave beam propagating in a regularly inhomogeneous dissipative random medium. The radiation transfer in the medium is characterized by non-conservation of the total radiation energy flux and by the existence of power fluctuations. The statistics of the wave beam power fluctuations have been studied. Information on the power statistical characteristics is applied to close the system of equations for joint moments. For task parameters which are not very strict (an effective radius of the wave beam should be considerably less than the outer scale of the turbulence) a system of independent equations for arbitrary joint moments has been obtained. The equations for the first two lower joint moments of the beam intensity and inverse power have been solved analytically. With the solutions obtained the effective wave beam parameters were calculated, i.e. the beam mean displacement, effective broadening and tremble variance (the beam wandering variance) for the propagation of radiation in the refractive channel of an absorbing turbulent medium. Radically new characteristics of the behaviour of the effective parameters in random absorbing and transparent media have been revealed.     

Polarization fluctuations in the radiation from cosmic sources due to scattering in a random inhomogeneous magnetoactive plasma

We use Feynman integrals along the trajectories to obtain expressions for the fourth-order statistical moments of polarized radiation propagating through a random inhomogeneous plasma. We write down the correlation functions and dispersion of the fluctuations in the Stokes parameters for the case of small fluctuations in the wave filed. We analyze the correlation functions of the Stokes parameters as a function of the polarization of the radiation from the source and the characteristics of the inhomogeneous plasma. We show that for each of the normal waves, the amplitudes and the phases experience different amounts of decorrelation in a random inhomogeneous magnetoactive plasma. As a result, fluctuations occur in the circular polarization.Radio Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 34, No. 7, pp. 738–747, July, 1991     

Propagation of a Gaussian-beam wave through a random phase screen

Tractable analytic expressions are developed for a variety of basic statistical quantities involving a Gaussian-beam wave propagating through a random medium confined to a portion of the propagation path between input and output planes, the limiting case of which defines a thin random phase screen. For a plane wave incident on a phase screen located midway between input and output planes, it is well known that the statistics in the receiver plane are in close agreement with those associated with a plane wave propagating through an extended random medium between input and output planes. For a similar comparison between a phase screen and extended turbulence in the case of a Gaussian-beam wave at the input plane, the present analysis reveals that the phase screen must be positioned between input and output planes differently from the plane-wave case, the position being dependent upon the Fresnel ratio of the Gaussian beam. The analytic results developed in this paper for the thin phase screen model are based on the Kolmogorov power-law spectrum for refractive-index fluctuations and the Rytov approximation. Extension of these results to multiple phase screens is also discussed.     

Parabolic equation for nonlinear acoustic wave propagation in inhomogeneous moving media

A new parabolic equation is derived to describe the propagation of nonlinear sound waves in inhomogeneous moving media. The equation accounts for diffraction, nonlinearity, absorption, scalar inhomogeneities (density and sound speed), and vectorial inhomogeneities (flow). A numerical algorithm employed earlier to solve the KZK equation is adapted to this more general case. A two-dimensional version of the algorithm is used to investigate the propagation of nonlinear periodic waves in media with random inhomogeneities. For the case of scalar inhomogeneities, including the case of a flow parallel to the wave propagation direction, a complex acoustic field structure with multiple caustics is obtained. Inclusion of the transverse component of vectorial random inhomogeneities has little effect on the acoustic field. However, when a uniform transverse flow is present, the field structure is shifted without changing its morphology. The impact of nonlinearity is twofold: it produces strong shock waves in focal regions, while, outside the caustics, it produces higher harmonics without any shocks. When the intensity is averaged across the beam propagating through a random medium, it evolves similarly to the intensity of a plane nonlinear wave, indicating that the transverse redistribution of acoustic energy gives no considerable contribution to nonlinear absorption. Published in Russian in Akusticheskiĭ Zhurnal, 2006, Vol. 52, No. 6, pp. 725–735. This article was translated by the authors.