Abstract

Random media, such as the turbulent atmosphere, distort the wavefront of a propagating electromagnetic field, thereby degrading the resolution of imaging and surveillance systems to much below their inherent (diffraction or otherwise) limits. It has been proposed,¹ and to some extent also experimentally verified,² that there is always a finite chance to obtain an almost diffraction-limited resolution (over a small field of view) in a series of short-exposure images. In an effort to further quantify this effect, we have carried out a series of imaging experiments in a laboratory simulated ran-dom medium, characterized by relatively slow vari-ations (<5 Hz). A narrow slit was imaged through a volume of water, heated from below, and cooled from above.

© 1986 Optical Society of America