Abstract

Generally, turbulence in the atmosphere has been described by a Kolmogorov-Taylor (K-T) model. In some cases deviations from this simple theoretical model have been found. Measurements of phase fluctuations in light paths through the atmosphere presented here indicate that under typical astronomical observing conditions these deviations can be significant. This result is particularly important for prediction of the performance of large filled-aperture telescopes or long-baseline interferometers at infrared wavelengths. Analysis of the statistics of these pathlength fluctuations shows that they often appear to follow a non-Gaussian distribution.

© 1992 Optical Society of America