Effects of anisotropic turbulence on the long term beam spread and beam wander of Gaussian beam

Abstract

Experiments and theoretical investigations have shown that the isotropic turbulence is not the only possible turbulence in the atmosphere. Researches about the anisotropic non-Kolmogorov have attracted more and more attentions recently. In this work, the spreading and wandering of Gaussian beam under weak anisotropic turbulence are investigated. New theoretical expressions for these two kinds of turbulence effects are developed. They are observed against the variations in the effective anisotropic factor, finite turbulence inner and outer scales, and the general spectral power law. It is found that the increased effective anisotropic factor decreases the influence of anisotropic turbulence on the long term beam spread and beam wander. The increased turbulence inner scale is advantageous for decreasing the long term beam spread. While the increased turbulence outer scale is disadvantageous for alleviating the beam wander. The theoretical investigations performed in this work are helpful to better understand the optical waves’ propagation under anisotropic turbulence.