Abstract

The problem we address is that of forming an intensity image of a self-luminous object that emits incoherent quasimonochromatic light which propagates through the atmosphere and is then collected with an ideal, thin-lens telescope and sensed with a photodetector. A clear-air atmosphere having weak turbulence is assumed with resulting random motions of the object’s light falling onto the photodetector. It is assumed that the light level at the photodetector is sufficiently low and the spatiotemporal resolution of the photodetector sufficiently high that the spatial and temporal coordinate of each photoconversion can be measured to become the quantum-limited data available for forming the image. The geometry is indicated in the figure at the right.

© 1989 Optical Society of America