Similarity relations and their experimental verification for strong intensity fluctuations of laser radiation

In this work the results are presented of experimental data for a laser beam which confirm the similarity relations which were obtained as a consequence of the equations describing the fourth- and higher order coherence functions for an unbounded plane wave. Preliminary experimental estimates indicate that changes in the geometry of the initial beam do not show a significant effect in the statistical characteristics for strong fluctuations. Nonetheless, without question there is interest in further experimental investigations of the effects of geometrical factors, also the effects of the characteristic scales and the form of the turbulent spectrum, and finally verification of the relationships with wavelength.