Numerical simulation of optical wave propagation through random media

TR Number
Date
1988
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Abstract

The propagation of optical plane waves through a one-dimensional Gaussian phase screen and a two-dimensional Gaussian extended medium are simulated numerically, and wave statistics are calculated from the data obtained by the numerical simulation. For instantaneous realization of a random medium, a simplified version of the random-motion model [77] is used, and for wave-propagation calculation the wave-kinetic numerical method and/or the angular-spectral representation of the Huygens-Fresnel diffraction formula are used. For the wave-kinetic numerical method, several different levels of approximations are introduced, and the region of validity of those approximations is studied by single-realization calculations. Simulation results from the wave-kinetic numerical method are compared, either with those from the existing analytical expressions for the phase-screen problem, or with those from the Huygens-Fresnel diffraction formula for the extended-medium problem. Excellent agreement has been observed. Extension to two-dimensional media with the power-law spectrum or three-dimensional problems is straight-forward. We may also deal with space-time correlations using, for example, Taylor's frozen-in hypothesis.

Description
Keywords
Citation