title: Atmospheric turbulence effects on a partially coherent Gaussian beam: implications for free-space laser communication.
abstract: A partially coherent quasi-monochromatic Gaussian laser beam propagating in atmospheric turbulence is examined by using a derived analytic expression for the cross-spectral density function. Expressions for average intensity, beam size, phase front radius of curvature, and wave-front coherence length are obtained from the cross-spectral density function. These results provide a model for a free-space laser transmitter with a phase diffuser used to reduce pointing errors.
authors.affiliation: Science Applications International Corporation, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico 87117, USA. jricklin@arl.army.mil
authors.forename: Jennifer C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ricklin
authors.forename: Frederic M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Davidson