Abstract

The effect of the inner scale of turbulence on the atmospheric modulation transfer function (MTF) is analyzed. It is shown that owing to this effect the turbulence MTF has all the main features of the overall measured atmospheric MTF, including different behaviors in the low- and high-frequency ranges, a knee, and dependence on the wavelength. It is also shown that the mismatches between the overall measured atmospheric MTF and the predicted turbulence MTF might be eliminated by use of a theoretical model with a finite inner scale of turbulence for the turbulence MTF and an accurate interpretation of the optical measurements of the refractive-index structure characteristic. Therefore no revision of the classical aerosol MTF theory is required to interpret the measured data.

© 1996 Optical Society of America

Experimental comparison of turbulence modulation transfer function and aerosol modulation transfer function through the open atmosphere

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