The effects of phase diffuser on scintillations of laser radiation for long-distance propagation in the atmosphere

Abstract

We consider theoretically and numerically the suppression of fluctuations (scintillations) of a laser beam propagating through turbulent atmospheres by applying a phase modulator. Both spatial and temporal phase variations introduced by this phase modulator are analyzed. The explicit dependences of the scintillation index on the initial correlation length and finite-time phase variations for long propagation paths are obtained. Results of modeling and numerical simulations are presented. We demonstrate that an appropriately chosen phase modulator can significantly suppress the scintillations of the laser beam caused by turbulent atmospheres.