Uniqueness of statistics derived from moments of irradiance fluctuations in atmospheric optical propagation

Abstract This paper describes a new and very simple technique to examine the uniqueness criteria of some probability density functions (PDF) of irradiance fluctuations used to model the atmospheric optical propagation effects. By plotting the normalized function ( m −1 (2k) k m −1 2 1 ) derived from the k th moment m k , the rate of growth of m k is studied. Examples to assess the applicability and utility of the technique include scintillations due to speckles and turbulence as well as experimental results for laboratory-simulated and outdoor atmospheric turbulence.