Vol. 17, issue 12, article # 8
pdf Lukin I. P. Influence of the outer scale of atmospheric turbulence on the quality of optical imaging . // Atmospheric and oceanic optics. 2004. V. 17. No. 12. P. 913-919.Copy the reference to clipboard
Abstract:
In this paper I analyze the influence of the outer scale of the atmospheric turbulence on the quality of an optical imaging based on the method of moments applied to the optical transfer function of the "turbulent atmosphere - telescope" system at measuring an averaged image of a source of an incoherent optical radiation. Thus, the behavior is analyzed of the integral resolution and three types of limiting values of the spatial scales resolvable by an optical imaging system. The image scales are determined by the moments of the zero, second, fourth, and sixth orders, respectively. It is shown that the influence of the outer scale of atmospheric turbulence on the above-mentioned characteristics can manifest itself only at small values of the variance of fluctuations of a complex phase of a plane optical wave. Distortions of an image of a source of an incoherent radiation estimated by the criteria of quality based on the moments of the zero, second, fourth, and sixth orders in the helical atmospheric turbulence are less than in the Kolmogorov turbulent media, and the influence of the outer scale of the atmospheric turbulence is practically the same in both of the cases.