Effect of atmospheric turbulence on propagation of ultraviolet radiation

Abstract

We investigate the effect of atmospheric optical turbulence on ultraviolet (UV) radiation with a wavelength of 253.7 nm. The normalized irradiance variance (scintillation index) was measured using a UV scintillometer with a path length of 185 m. The dependence of the UV scintillations on the atmospheric turbulence structure parameter and inner scale was determined through simultaneous measurements of these quantities made with a visible laser scintillometer. The dependence of the UV scintillation index and its probability density function on receiver aperture size was also measured. It was found that the scintillation predicted by currently available models which take into account the effects of inner scale, saturation and aperture averaging was in good agreement with the measurements made under various conditions in weak turbulence.