Effect of light source parameters on the polarization properties of the beam

Abstract

Polarized laser has been widely used in free space optical communication, laser radar, and laser ranging system because of its advantages of good performance in recent years. The changes of laser polarization properties in the process of transmission in atmospheric turbulence have a certain impact on the system performance. The paper research on the rule of polarization properties changes of Gauss Schell model beam in turbulent conditions. And analysis the main factors to affect the polarization properties by numerical simulation using MATLAB software tools. The factors mainly including: initial polarization, coherence coefficient, spot size and the intensity of the atmospheric turbulent. The simulation results show that, the degree of polarization will converge to the initial polarization when the beam propagation in turbulent conditions. The degrees of polarization change to different value when initial polarization of beam is different in a short distance. And, the degrees of polarization converge to the initial polarization after long distance. Beam coherence coefficient bigger, the degree of polarization and change range increases bigger. The change of polarization more slowly for spot size is bigger. The change of polarization change is faster for longer wavelength. The conclusion of the study indicated that the light source parameters effect the changes of polarization properties under turbulent conditions. The research provides theory basis for the polarization properties of the laser propagation, and it will plays a significant role in optical communication and target recognition.