An anisotropic power spectrum of the refractive-index fluctuation in hypersonic turbulence was obtained by processing the experimental image of the hypersonic plasma sheath and transforming the generalized anisotropic von Kármán spectrum. The power spectrum suggested here can provide as good a fit to measured spectrum data for hypersonic turbulence as that recorded from the nano-planar laser scattering image. Based on the newfound anisotropic hypersonic turbulence power spectrum, Rytov approximation was employed to establish the wave structure function and the spatial coherence radius model of electromagnetic beam propagation in hypersonic turbulence. Enhancing the anisotropy characteristics of the hypersonic turbulence led to a significant improvement in the propagation performance of electromagnetic beams in hypersonic plasma sheath. The influence of hypersonic turbulence on electromagnetic beams increases with the increase of variance of the refractive-index fluctuation and the decrease of turbulence outer scale and anisotropy parameters. The spatial coherence radius was much smaller than that in atmospheric turbulence. These results are fundamental to understanding electromagnetic wave propagation in hypersonic turbulence.

The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of a Laguerre–Gaussian beam (LGB) is classified using the support vector machine (SVM) model. The scintillation index, beam width, and beam wander of the Gaussian beam and the LGB at the receiving site are taken as feature vectors, and the OAM number of a LGB is taken as the label in the training and test samples. The influences on the detection accuracy of the number of training samples, the transmission distance, and the different ways of grouping OAM values are analyzed, where the detection accuracy is defined as the percentage of correctly detected OAM. The results show that only a few training samples are needed up to a range of 4000 m to achieve saturation accuracy. When the transmission distance is within 2500 m, the detection accuracy of a single SVM model in four turbulent environments ( C n 2 = 10 − 13 , 10 ⁻¹⁴ , 10 ⁻¹⁵ , 10 − 16 m − 2 / 3 ) is close to 100%. When the distance increases, detection accuracy decreases gradually, and in the range of 4000 m the detection accuracy is more than 91%. Compared with the traditional spiral spectrum expansion method, the SVM model has obvious advantages. In addition, when the range of OAM to be detected is large, the OAM values may be grouped thereby improving the accuracy when using the multi-SVM models for joint detection.

A new electromagnetic (EM) calculation model, the inhomogeneity zonal medium model (based on the physical optics (PO) method), is proposed to calculate and analyze the EM scattering characteristics of hypersonic target aircraft covered with a plasma sheath. First, the flow field of the plasma sheath is divided into non-uniform calculation subregions with different spacing sizes. The shape of the external flow field of the aircraft is modeled by fitting with a paraboloid and circular platform with different radii. Then, the electron density, temperature, and pressure distribution are obtained by collecting data from different points in the flow field of the sheath. Finally, a piecewise PO method is used to calculate the backscattering radar cross section (BRCS) of the hypersonic vehicle covered with plasma sheath from L-band to X-band. The numerical results show that the EM scattering characteristics of a target aircraft covered with a plasma sheath can be described more accurately by using zoned medium model simulation. Under different flight conditions, the BRCS of hypersonic aircraft covered with a plasma sheath appear to be reduced to different degrees in the S-band and the band range of 7-11GHz, and a large attenuation of BRCS occurs in the head area of the aircraft. The research results enrich the EM modeling method of hypersonic vehicles, overcome some shortcomings of the existing PO method, and provide technical support and innovative ideas for the accurate analysis of the EM scattering characteristics of hypersonic targets.

Based on the detection platform of space-borne radar (SBR), the dynamic electromagnetic (EM) scattering characteristics of a hypersonic vehicle covered with plasma sheath are calculated and analyzed by the physical optics (PO) method. Using the angle-time conversion method, the dynamic radar cross section (DRCS) of the vehicle in horizontal flying path and different flying states is solved in the range of L-band to X-band. The relevant effective statistical features are extracted from the time-scale matrix of DRCS based on continuous wavelet transform (CWT). The numerical results show that: At different flying altitudes, the backscattering radar cross section (BRCS) of the hypersonic vehicle covered with plasma sheath has irregular fluctuation and large range reduction in the head region of the vehicle. Generally, the higher the incident EM wave frequency is, the more detailed the fluctuation characteristics of the DRCS can be reflected. Within the same radar illuminate angle range, the time consumed by the vehicle DRCS is inversely proportional to the flying height and flying speed and is directly proportional to the detection altitude of the SBR. Besides, the different kinds of statistical eigenvalues extracted from DRCS will play an important role in hypersonic targets classification and recognition.

In this study, the new fractal model and power spectrum of plasma sheath turbulence are established based on the fractal dimensions in hypersonic turbulence that were measured through experiments. The expression for beam spot size, scintillation index, angle‐of‐arrival fluctuation, and beam wander are obtained from the power spectrum. Finally, the propagation characteristics of a Gaussian beam in a turbulent plasma sheath are simulated. The authors’ results indicate that plasma sheath turbulence can lead to amplitude and phase variations. A larger variance in the plasma sheath turbulence causes a more evident refractive index fluctuation and a greater effect on the Gaussian beam propagation characteristics. On the contrary, a larger Reynolds number reduces the effect of the plasma sheath turbulence on the Gaussian beam. This new power spectral model is fundamental to understanding Gaussian beam propagation in plasma sheath turbulence and may provide a reference for the imaging and communication system under the effect of plasma sheath turbulence.

This paper introduces the propagation properties and polarization characteristics of radially polarized partially coherent vortex beams in anisotropic plasma turbulence and discusses in detail the distribution of light intensity in such beams as a function of propagation distance. In addition, we analyze how the parameters of the anisotropic plasma turbulence affect the degree of polarization, polarization orientation angle, and degree of ellipticity of the beam. The results show that the degree of polarization of the radially polarized partially coherent vortex beam satisfies the modification of the central origin zero and the gradual increase with the radius during plasma turbulent propagation. At the same time, smaller turbulence eddies in the anisotropic plasma turbulence render, more obvious the irregular structure perpendicular to the vortex-stretching direction, the smaller the influence on the polarization characteristics of the radially polarized partially coherent vortex beam. It is advantageous to the research on optical communication and the study of anisotropic plasma turbulence.