Study on the wave structure function and spatial coherence radius with a power-law spectrum of oceanic turbulence

Abstract

Based on the recently proposed power-law spectrum for oceanic turbulence [Opt. Express 26, 10188 (2018)] and the Rytov approximation, the new and exact theoretical forms for the wave structure function (WSF) of plane and spherical waves propagating in turbulent ocean are derived. To make the results easy to use, the simple formulas for the WSF and the associated spatial coherence radius in certain asymptotic regimes are also developed. Through numerical analysis, it is found that the existing results based on the Nikishov's spectrum predict a higher values for the WSF and thus a lower values for the spatial coherence radius than our results.