Abstract

Expressions for the variance and other probability moments of strongly fluctuating irradiance of light after propagation through turbulent atmosphere are developed from a high-frequency approximation of the solution of the scalar wave equation. These expressions imply a Rayleigh distribution of the irradiance in the limit of strong turbulence and/or long propagation paths. The theory provides a good fit to Gracheva and Gurvich’s data (corrected for a processing error) and to the more dispersed recent data of Gracheva. It is argued that existing evidence for a log-normal distribution cannot reject a Rayleigh distribution whereas the assumption of log-normal distribution has implications conflicting with theory and/or experiment.

© 1968 Optical Society of America

Are Strong Irradiance Fluctuations Log Normal or Rayleigh Distributed?*

David A. de Wolf
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 59(11) 1455-1460 (1969)

Strong irradiance fluctuations in turbulent air: plane waves*

D. A. de Wolf
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 63(2) 171-179 (1973)

Perturbed log-normal distribution of irradiance fluctuations*

Ting-i Wang and John W. Strohbehn
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 64(7) 994-999 (1974)

Irradiance fluctuations of a spherical wave propagating under saturation conditions*

H. T. Yura
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 64(11) 1526-1530 (1974)

Strong irradiance fluctuations in turbulent air, III. Diffraction cutoff*

D. A. de Wolf
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 64(3) 360-365 (1974)