Vol. 11, issue 11, article # 1
pdf Frid D. L. David L. Fried Scaling laws for propagation through turbulence. // Atmospheric and oceanic optics. 1998. V. 11. No. 11. P. 982-990.Copy the reference to clipboard
Abstract:
In this work it is shown that in regard to optical propagation effects associated with intensity variations and with higher order wave front distortion any pair of quite distinct cases of optical propagation through Kolmogorov turbulence may be related by simple scaling laws providing that two equivalencies apply between the cases. The first of these two equivalencies requires that from the source plane to the measurement plane the distribution of the optical strength of turbulence should follow the same form in the two cases, i.e., that there should be a simple proportionality between the strength of turbulence at the same fraction of the total distance in the total distance in the two cases. The second of the two equivalencies requires that a quantity which we will call the Rytov number, should be the same for the two cases. (The Rytov number is proportional to the log-amplitude variance as calculated by Tatarskii for spherical wave propagation over the path, using theory based on the Rytov approximation).