Laser Array Beam Scintillation in Oceanic Turbulence

Abstract

In this study, on-axis scintillation of laser array beam in oceanic turbulent medium is investigated. By using Rytov method, scintillation index variations are reported in connection with the propagation distance, rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy, microscale length, rate of dissipation of the mean squared temperature, salinity ratio, radius of the ring of beamlets which compose the beam array, source size and number of beamlets. Results show that turbulence effect on the laser beam increases with the propagation distance, microscale length, rate of dissipation of the mean squared temperature, salinity ratio, array radius, source size and number of beamlets but decreases when rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy increases.