Expand this Topic clickable element to expand a topic
Skip to content
Optica Publishing Group

Rainfall-induced optical phase fluctuations in the atmosphere

Not Accessible

Your library or personal account may give you access

Abstract

We apply Tatarski’s spectral expansion technique of optical fields to calculate the phase variance, mutual coherence function, and phase-difference temporal power spectrum of an optical wave propagating through rainfall. The analysis includes the effects of a distribution of rain droplet sizes and their associated terminal velocities. The general features of the associated phase statistics are discussed, and numerical results are presented as a function of the rainfall rate. It is shown that for up to moderate rainfall conditions (i.e., ≲4 mm/h) the lateral phase coherence of the wave is not significantly degraded for a propagation path of the order of a kilometer. It follows that under these conditions (moderate and less) rainfall will not pose serious limitations to coherent optical systems such as laser radars. In particular, in contrast to clean-air turbulence, rain-induced phase degradations will not limit the aperature size of coherent optical systems in many practical situations. In addition, the theory presented here predicts that for low-cross-wind speed conditions the high-frequency portion of the temporal-phase-difference power spectrum varies as f−7, where f is the frequency. This behavior has been seen experimentally.

© 1983 Optical Society of America

Full Article  |  PDF Article
More Like This
Use of rainfall-induced optical scintillations to measure path-averaged rain parameters

Ting-i Wang and S. F. Clifford
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 65(8) 927-937 (1975)

Experimental Study of Atmospherically Induced Phase Fluctuations in an Optical Signal

G. M. B. Bouricius and S. F. Clifford
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 60(11) 1484-1489 (1970)

Phase difference power spectra in atmospheric propagation through rain at 10.6 μm

R. L. Schwiesow, R. E. Cupp, and S. F. Clifford
Appl. Opt. 24(24) 4516-4524 (1985)

Cited By

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Figures (8)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Figure files are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Tables (1)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Article tables are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Equations (45)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Equations are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Select as filters


Select Topics Cancel
© Copyright 2024 | Optica Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved