Turbulence-induced scintillation on Gaussian-beam waves: theoretical predictions and observations from a laser-illuminated satellite

Abstract

Expressions for the variance and the power spectral density of turbulence-induced log-amplitude fluctuations are derived for Gaussian-beam waves in the regime of weak scattering. This formulation includes effects that are due to turbulence strength variations along the propagation path, offset of the observation point from the beam axis, and sensitivity to focus and beam diameter. Comparison of theoretical results with observed scintillation during experiments with a laser-illuminated satellite reveals good agreement.