Average intensity and spreading of partially coherent standard and elegant Laguerre-Gaussian beams in turbulent atmosphere

Abstract

Analytical expressions for the average intensity, mean-squared beam width and angular spread of partially coherent standard and elegant Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams propagating in turbulent atmosphere are derived. The properties of the average intensity, spreading and directionality of partially coherent standard and elegant LG beams in turbulent atmosphere are studied numerically and comparatively. It is found that the beam parameters and structure constant of turbulence together determine the properties of the beams in turbulent atmosphere. Partially coherent standard and elegant LG beams with smaller coherence length, larger beam orders and longer wavelength are less affected by the turbulence. A partially coherent elegant LG beam is less affected by turbulence than a partially coherent standard LG beam under the same condition. Furthermore, it is found that there exist equivalent partially coherent standard and elegant LG beams, equivalent fully coherent standard and elegant LG beams, equivalent Gaussian Schell-model beams that may have the same directionality as a fully coherent Gaussian beam both in free space and in turbulent atmosphere. Our results will be useful in long distance free-space optical communications.