Near-optimal focus for Gaussian beam propagation through turbulence: analysis and wave optics simulation results

We recently proposed a metric that incorporates scintillation reduction and beam spread for evaluating the performance of a partially coherent laser beam propagating through atmospheric turbulence. The metric was evaluated relative to other measures such as probability of fade and number of fades and it was verified that the metric can be used to find the parameters for optimal or near-optimal beam performance. In this work, we review the performance metric and develop analytical expressions as a function of the source beam curvature F0 and other link parameters. The behavior of the metric as a function of F0 is investigated for different link scenarios. A wave (physical) optics simulation is also implemented and its results compare favorably with the analytical results.

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