Power Spectrum of Refractive-Index Fluctuation in Hypersonic Plasma Turbulence

Abstract

Anisotropic spatial distribution data of refractive-index fluctuation in hypersonic turbulence are obtained based on the experimental images of hypersonic turbulence. Furthermore, taking re-entry turbulent plasma fluctuation into consideration, the variance of the refractive-index fluctuation in hypersonic plasma is calculated based on the Saha equation and the expression of refractive index in hypersonic plasma. On this basic, the anisotropic power-spectral model of hypersonic plasma turbulence is established by introducing the orientation factor to the modified von Karman spectrum. Finally, the mutual coherence function (MCF) and the angle-of-arrival fluctuations of electromagnetic (EM) waves propagation in hypersonic plasma turbulence are calculated. Results show that the angle-of-arrival fluctuations have obvious differences between the directions of vertical to turbulent plasma flow field and parallel to it. The various gradients of the electron density along the direction of vertical to turbulent plasma flow field are far greater than the parallel to it, which causes the horizontal scale is larger than perpendicular scale of plasma eddies. Therefore, when EM waves propagating through plasma turbulence, the refractive effect of plasma eddies show obvious anisotropy. The results of this paper can be used to analyze the EM waves propagation characteristics in hypersonic plasma turbulence.