The relay propagation of partially coherent cosh–Gaussian–Schell beams in turbulent atmosphere

Abstract

We have studied the relay propagation of a partially coherent cosh–Gaussian–Schell beam in turbulent atmosphere. Analytical expressions for both the cross-spectral density at the relay system and average intensity at the target are derived. By using the analytical expressions some special cases are studied and some numerical simulation comparisons are made, especially the effects of the coherence of the beam, turbulence strength, aperture and its size on the relay propagation. Our study shows that the effects of diffraction and coherence of initial beam on the intensity profiles at the relay system are so small that they can be neglected when the effects due to turbulence are large enough. Even though the correction to the receiving beam at relay system is important, it is not necessary to improve the receiving beam when the effect of turbulence over the travel path is strong. A high peak intensity at target can be obtained by optimizing these factors, such as propagation distance, aperture and spatial correlation length.