Partially coherent elegant Hermite–Gaussian beam in turbulent atmosphere

Abstract

Based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel integral, analytical formulas for the cross-spectral density, mean-squared beam width and angular spread of a partially coherent elegant Hermite–Gaussian (HG) beam in turbulent atmosphere are derived. The evolution properties of the average intensity, spreading and directionality of a partially coherent elegant HG beam in turbulent atmosphere are studied numerically. It is found that the partially coherent elegant HG beam with smaller initial coherence width, larger beam order and longer wavelength is less affected by the atmospheric turbulence. Compared to the partially coherent standard HG beam, the partially coherent elegant HG beam is less affected by turbulence under the same condition. Furthermore, it is found that there exist equivalent partially coherent standard and elegant HG beams, equivalent fully coherent standard and elegant HG beams, and an equivalent Gaussian–Schell-model beam may have the same directionality as a fully coherent Gaussian beam whether in free space or in turbulent atmosphere. Our results can be utilized in short and long atmospheric optical communication systems.