Convergence of general beams into Gaussian intensity profiles after propagation in turbulent atmosphere

It is shown that a general shaped laser beam will eventually approach a Gaussian average intensity profile after propagation in turbulent atmosphere. In our formulation, source field at the exit plane of the laser is taken as the product of arbitrary functions of source transverse coordinates with Gaussian exponential modulations. Following the expansion of the arbitrary functions in terms of Hermite polynomials, the average receiver intensity expression is derived using the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle and the conditions for the intensity profile to assume a Gaussian shape are stated. The results are illustrated by simulating various source field distributions.