Propagation of laser array beams in a turbulent atmosphere

Abstract

The propagation of phase-locked and non-phase-locked laser array beams of radial and rectangular symmetries in a turbulent atmosphere are investigated based on the extended Huygens-Fresnel integral. The beamlet used in our paper for constructing the laser array beams is of elliptical Gaussian mode. Analytical formulae for the average irradiance of phase-locked and non-phase-locked radial and rectangular laser array beams are derived through vector integration and tensor operation. The irradiance properties of these laser array beams in a turbulent atmosphere are studied numerically. It is found that both phase-locked and non-phase-locked radial and rectangular laser array beams eventually become circular Gaussian beams in a turbulent atmosphere, which is much different from their propagation properties in free space. The propagation properties are closely related to the parameters of laser array beams and the structure constant of the turbulent atmosphere.