Probability Distribution and Asymptotic Variance of Strong Irradiance Fluctuations of Optical Waves in Turbulent Media,

摘要

The asymptotic solutions for the first-and second-order statistical moments of the amplitude of a plane optical wave propagating in a turbulent atmosphere are derived from Maxwell's equations. These solutions show that the irradiance variance would diverge to infinity if the probability distribution were log-normal but that it would tend to unity if the distribution were normal. Therefore, the widely used hypothesis of log-normal probability distribution is incompatible with the experimental observation of the saturation of the irradiance variance. An order of magnitude estimate of the propagation distance characteristic of these asymptotic solutions indicates that they should apply in the saturation region. These results have obvious implications with regard to the modelling of the effects of turbulence on long range atmospheric propagation of visible and infrared laser beams.