Strehl ratio versus localized distortion in reflectors in lasercom

Abstract

In intersatellite laser communication (lasercom), the Strehl ratio (SR) is usually used to characterize the transmitter-beam quality. We study its dependence on localized distortion in reflectors based on the Gaussian model. We show that the transmitter-beam quality depends on three parameters of localized distortion and changes regularly with their increase. Localized distortion in reflectors influences the beam quality near the depth of 0.4 λ, which does not depend on other distortion parameters. To reduce the impact of localized deformation on the beam quality, we use the peak-to-valley (PV) value to evaluate the machining precision of mirrors and show that it should be much better than 0.8 λ. The results obtained can be used in designing intersatellite laser-communication systems.