Investigation of the fluctuations in the angles of arrival of laser radiation in the surface layer of the atmosphere

The fluctuations in the angles of arrival of a laser beam along a route 1200 m in length are investigated experimentally. The aperture dimensions of the transmitting and receiving devices and the beam geometry were varied during the measurements. The results obtained are compared with the results obtained by simultaneously determining the fluctuations in the angles of arrival of the radiation from a source of spherical waves. It is shown that the angles of arrival have a normal distribution. The dispersion of the angles of arrival depends on the diameter of the receiving aperture raised to the power -1/3 and increases as the angular aperture of the beam is reduced, becoming greater than the dispersion of the angles of arrival of spherical waves.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii Fizika, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 103–106, January, 1969.