Multimode Laser Beam Scintillations in Weak Atmospheric Turbulence for Vertical Link Laser Communications

Abstract

Scintillation index of multimode laser beams used for communication systems in vertical paths of weak atmospheric turbulent medium are examined by employing the Rytov method. On-axis scintillation index is examined versus the source size, propagation distance and zenith angle for vertical link including uplink and downlink. At the selected values of source sizes and propagation distances, scintillation responses of multimode laser beams are evaluated. In general, it is found for both uplink and downlink that the laser beam with multimode content has larger scintillation noise as compared to a Gaussian laser beam. However, for the downlink at L=700 km, at the chosen parameters, the multimode beam possessing larger mode content, is found to attain slightly smaller scintillations.