Beam wander of a partially coherent Airy beam in oceanic turbulence.

Abstract

The beam wander of a partially coherent Airy beam in oceanic turbulence is investigated with the help of the extended Huygens-Fresnel integral formula. Analytical expression for the second-order moment and the beam wander of a partially coherent Airy beam propagating in oceanic turbulence is derived. From the numerical results based on the analytical formula, we find that increasing the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy or decreasing the dissipation rate of mean-square temperature and relative strength of temperature and salinity fluctuations of oceanic turbulence tends to decrease the wander effect of a partially coherent Airy beam. Moreover, it is found that increasing the transverse scale factor and wavelength or decreasing the coherent length and exponential truncation factor of a partially coherent Airy beam decreases beam wander in oceanic turbulence. Our results will be useful in optical underwater communications and laser defense.