Abstract
Numerical integration of the time-dependent propagation equations for a turbulent medium shows that velocity turbulence introduces a threshold for small-angle stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering. The threshold can be expressed in terms of a formula relating the limit on absorbed power to the rms amplitude of the velocity fluctuations. Above threshold, light scattered by thermal fluctuations at the start of the path is amplified. After only a few waves of phase distortion have accumulated, the stimulated scattering amplitude reaches saturation. Below threshold, stimulated scattering is suppressed, but there is a slow increase in the level of the index turbulence caused by incoherent heating of the propagation medium.
© 1990 Optical Society of America
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