The analytical formulae for the wave structure functions (WSF) and the spatial coherence radius of plane and spherical waves propagating through oceanic turbulence are derived. It is found that the Kolmogorov five-thirds power law of WSF is also valid for oceanic turbulence in the inertial range. The changes of the WSF and the spatial coherence radius versus different parameters of oceanic turbulence are examined.

The closed-form expression for the mean-squared beam width of partially coherent Hermite–Gaussian (H-G) beams propagating through atmospheric turbulence is derived. The influence of turbulence on the spreading of partially coherent H-G beams is studied quantitatively by examining the mean-squared beam width. It is found that the smaller the coherence length ${\sigma }_0$ of the source is, and the larger the beam order m and the wavelength λ are, the less partially coherent H-G beams are affected by the turbulence, although the beams with smaller ${\sigma }_0$, larger m, and larger λ have greater spreading in free space. In addition, it is shown that two partially coherent H-G beams may generate the same angular spread and that there exist equivalent partially coherent H-G beams that may have the same directionality as a fully coherent Gaussian beam in free space and also in turbulence. The results are illustrated by examples, and a comparison with previous work is also made.

In this paper, the effect of thermal blooming of an Airy beam propagating through the atmosphere is examined, and the effect of atmospheric turbulence is not considered. The changes of the intensity distribution, the centroid position and the mean-squared beam width of an Airy beam propagating through the atmosphere are studied by using the four-dimensional (4D) computer code of the time-dependent propagation of Airy beams through the atmosphere. It is shown that an Airy beam can’t retain its shape and the structure when the Airy beam propagates through the atmosphere due to thermal blooming except for the short propagation distance, or the short time, or the low beam power. The thermal blooming results in a central dip of the center lobe, and causes the center lobe to spread and decrease. In contrast with the center lobe, the side lobes are less affected by thermal blooming, such that the intensity maximum of the side lobe may be larger than that of the center lobe. However, the cross wind can reduce the effect of thermal blooming. When there exists the cross wind velocity v_x in x direction, the dependence of centroid position in x direction on v_x is not monotonic, and there exists a minimum, but the centroid position in y direction is nearly independent of v_x.

The analytical formula for the effective radius of curvature of radial Gaussian array beams propagating through atmospheric turbulence is derived, where coherent and incoherent beam combinations are considered. The influence of turbulence on the effective radius of curvature of radial Gaussian array beams is studied by using numerical calculation examples.

The analytical expression for the spectral degree of coherence of partially coherent flat-topped beams propagating through the turbulent atmosphere is derived, and the spatial correlation properties are studied in detail. In particular, we find that the oscillatory behavior and phase singularities of the spectral degree of coherence may appear when partially coherent flat-topped beams propagate through the turbulent atmosphere; this behavior is very different from the behavior of Gaussian Schell-model beams. But the oscillatory behavior becomes weaker with increasing turbulence and even disappears when the turbulence is strong enough. The width of the spectral degree of coherence is always smaller than that of the spectral density in the far field when the turbulence is strong enough, whereas the width of the spectral degree of coherence in free space can be either larger or smaller than that of the spectral density in the far field.