As a finite cross-section laser beam propagates through the atmosphere, the beam spreads due to both diffraction and atmospheric turbulence effects. Using turbulence theory valid in both weak and strong optical turbulence regimes, a relationship between atmospheric beam spread and the resulting return power for an optical system and the refractive-index structure parameter or Cn2 can be established. A technique for estimating the path-averaged Cn2 using a laser-and-corner-cube system based on this relationship is described. Experimental results using near-infrared laser wavelengths show good agreement between theoretical predictions and scintillometer-measured Cn2 values for near-ground line-of-sight propagation paths.
Detection of optical targets using laser illumination has become an increasingly valuable military tool. In order to better understand typical detection scenarios for a laser illumination system and to improve target detection performance, intensity probability density functions of retroreflected near-infrared laser light were experimentally measured over a near-ground line-of-sight optical path. Returns from a corner cube and a simple lens-mirror system were recorded under a variety of atmospheric conditions, as measured by changes in the refractive-index structure parameter C 2 n . In addition to its applicability to target detection, this work is relevant to atmospheric propagation research and to free-space laser communication studies.
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