Abstract

Features of optical wave fluctuations while propagating through a randomly inhomogeneous turbulent medium with a finite outer scale are considered, including conditions when areas with dominating influence of one large-scale coherent structure are observed in the atmosphere, for which the spectrum of atmospheric turbulence can differ significantly from the Kolmogorov model spectrum. Using an approximate model of the spectrum for coherent turbulence, described earlier in our works, the variance of jitter of an optical image is calculated (under the applicability condition for the smooth perturbation method). The comparison of these equations with known similar equations for Kolmogorov turbulence has shown that the variance of fluctuations is significantly weaker in coherent turbulence than in the Kolmogorov theory under similar conditions. This means that phase fluctuations of optical radiation decrease significantly in coherent turbulence. The importance of this conclusion is noted for interpretation of the results of optical sounding of atmospheric turbulence.

© 2014 Optical Society of America

Causes of non-Kolmogorov turbulence in the atmosphere

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