Optimum beam size for laser beam propagating through atmospheric turbulence

Abstract

A previous study concluded that the optimum beam diameter for a laser beam propagating through atmospheric turbulence is of the order of the coherence scale. It is shown that the optimum size is critically dependent on beam wander and pointing accuracy, and can be much smaller. Consequently, the beam size maximising mean intensity may not coincide with the size minimising fluctuations, and a compromise may be necessary.