Abstract

Propagation through the ocean’s surface at shallow angles with a laser has been successfully demonstrated experimentally in the ocean. A 6-mJ multipulse laser at a depth of 1.5 m in water with an attenuation coefficient of approximately 3.3 m^-1 was easily detected 600 m away on a sunlit day at an angle of 1° to the ocean’s surface. The measured efficiency was 3.6 × 10^-2 (J/J)/sr (joules received per receiver steradian per joule transmitted). Statistical ray trace analysis and physical tank modeling produced equivalent efficiencies.

© 2002 Optical Society of America

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