Abstract

A new method of evaluating the mutual-coherence function for propagation in a randomly inhomogeneous medium like the atmosphere is presented. The new method, which is highly physical, as distinct from a mathematical approach, does not involve the treatment of any differential equations. Instead, the treatment is based on decomposition of a randomly distorted wavefront into a set of plane waves with random amplitudes. These plane waves constitute orthogonal modes. Propagation in a random medium is treated as the physical process of diffusion of amplitude (or energy) between the modes, and a short-path-propagator function for this diffusion is developed. From the short-path-propagator function, a long-path-propagator function is easily obtained, and from this the mutual-coherence function is computed. Starting from the known short-path mutual-coherence function, which is known to be accurate, the mutual-coherence function for long paths is obtained. The results are in agreement with previous results, all of whose derivations have recently been subject to criticism. Because this derivation is not a mathematical exercise, it should not be subject to any of these or similar criticisms, which were primarily questions of mathematical rigor.

© 1968 Optical Society of America

Autocorrelation of Gaussian-Beam Fluctuation Caused by a Random Medium

Yasuaki Kinoshita, Toshimitsu Asakura, and Michio Suzuki
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 58(8) 1040-1047 (1968)

Propagation of the Fourth-Order Coherence Function in a Random Medium*

T. L. Ho and M. J. Beran
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 58(10) 1335-1341 (1968)

Propagation of the Mutual Coherence Function Through Random Media*

Mark J. Beran
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(11) 1475-1480 (1966)

Fluctuation Distribution of Gaussian Beam Propagating Through a Random Medium

Yasuaki Kinoshita, Toshimitsu Asakura, and Michio Suzuki
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 58(6) 798-807 (1968)

Theory of Remote Sensing of Clear-Air Turbulence Profiles*

Arthur Peskoff
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 58(8) 1032-1040 (1968)