Estimation of Cn² based on scintillation of fixed targets imaged through atmospheric turbulence.

Abstract

We define a pixel-based scintillation index for dynamic incoherent imaging of fixed high-contrast targets through atmospheric turbulence. We propose a simple setup to study this parameter varying the Cn(2) constant in controlled laboratory conditions (weak fluctuation regime). We find the semi-empirical relationship between the pixel-based scintillation index and the index of refraction structure constant, which we then employ to estimate Cn(2) successfully in an independent case in which this value was not known beforehand.