Atmospheric optical turbulence analysis in London’s financial district

Abstract

Atmospheric optical turbulence causes signal loses in laser propagation. Here we present vertical measurements of optical turbulence taken in London's financial district. Additionally, we demonstrate a method of modelling atmospheric states in simulation from the measured data. From this we derive the predicted system performance of an optical downlink from a satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO) to ground in the atmospheric conditions observed on the night. We also present the improvements in performance with the addition of adaptive optics at the receiver end.