Abstract

The recently developed I–K distribution and its connection with other distributions is examined in the context of optical waves scattered by a turbulent medium. In particular, it is shown how the I–K distribution, K distribution, and homodyned K distribution all evolve as marginal density functions from compound or doubly stochastic Gaussian optical fields. In this setting the genesis of the I–K distribution is very similar to that of the homodyned K distribution, and there is one special case (α = 1) in which the two distributions are identical. Also, both the homodyned K and the I–K distribution are shown to reduce to the K distribution in strong-turbulence regimes. The I–K distribution is further examined as a model for the irradiance when the distribution parameter α is restricted to half-integer values, leading to simpler forms of the distribution. The special case of the I–K distribution corresponding to α = 1/2 shows a particularly good fit with experimental data over a wide range of conditions of atmospheric turbulence.

© 1986 Optical Society of America

Theoretical model for optical-wave phase fluctuations

Donald J. Link, Ronald L. Phillips, and Larry C. Andrews
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 4(2) 374-378 (1987)

I–K distribution as a universal propagation model of laser beams in atmospheric turbulence

L. C. Andrews and R. L. Phillips
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 2(2) 160-163 (1985)

Relations of the parameters of the I–K distribution for irradiance fluctuations to physical parameters of the turbulence

Larry C. Andrews, Ronald L. Phillips, and Bhimsen K. Shivamoggi
Appl. Opt. 27(11) 2150-2156 (1988)

Weak-scatterer generalization of the K-density function with application to laser scattering in atmospheric turbulence

Richard Barakat
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 3(4) 401-409 (1986)

Higher-order statistics of laser-irradiance fluctuations due to turbulence

Arun K. Majumdar
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 1(11) 1067-1074 (1984)