Optical propagation in non-Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulence

Several observations of atmospheric turbulence statistics have been reported which do not obey Kolmogorov's power spectral density model. These observations have prompted the study of optical propagation through turbulence described by non-classical power spectra. This paper presents an analysis of optical propagation through turbulence which causes fluctuations in the index of refraction. The index fluctuations are assumed to have spatial power spectra that obey arbitrary power laws. The spherical and plane wave structure functions are derived using Mellin transform techniques. The wave structure function is used to compute the Strehl ratio of a focused plane wave propagating in turbulence as the power law for the spectrum of the index of refraction fluctuations is varied from -3 to -4. The relative contributions of the log amplitude and phase structure functions to the wave structure function are computed. At power laws close to -3, the magnitude of the log amplitude and phase perturbations are determined by the system Fresnel ratio. At power laws approaching -4, phase effects dominate in the form of random tilts.

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