Analysing the Influence of Source Spectrum on the Optical Measurements of Turbulence

Abstract

It is considered how the source spectrum influences the measurement accuracy of optical wave arrival angles, as well as the estimation of the path-averaged structure parameter of the refractive index fluctuations. Two reasons that can cause the wavelength dependence of the variance of fluctuations of wave arrival angles are analyzed. The first one is connected with the fact that phases depend on a wavelength in the approximation of smooth perturbations. The second reason is associated with the wavelength dependence of the refractive index and, consequently, its fluctuations. All the methods based on scintillations of optical wave measurements allow one to work only with restricted weak intensity fluctuation, based on smooth perturbation approximation. Strict equations are obtained to take into account the influence of the source spectrum on the measurement accuracy of the variance of arrival angle fluctuations and, indirectly, on the estimation accuracy of the path-averaged refractive index structure parameter. It can be stated that for most radiation sources (even nonmonochromatic) the influence of the source spectral composition can be neglected.