Irradiance Fluctuations of a Spherical Wave Propagating under Saturation Conditions.
Abstract
The recent physical model of strong optical scintillation of plane waves is extended to the case of spherical-wave propagation. The spherical-wave amplitude filter function is derived and compared to the corresponding plane-wave result. Specifically, the spherical- to plane-wave log-amplitude-variance ratio is calculated. For weak fluctuations, our results are identical to the results of perturbation theory, where the spherical-wave log-amplitude variance is less than the corresponding plane-wave result. On the other hand, for strong fluctuations (i.e., in the saturation regime), it is shown that the plane- and spherical-wave log-amplitude variances saturate to the same constant value. Additionally, expressions are presented in the saturation regime for the plane- and spherical-wave log-amplitude covariance function and compared with the corresponding results in the regime of weak fluctuations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 17, 1974
- Accession Number
- ADA003406
Entities
People
- Hal T. Yura
Organizations
- The Aerospace Corporation