A simpler generalized expression of irradiance fluctuation for flat-topped beams is presented based on the Born and Rytov perturbation methods. The theoretical expression of the on-axis scintillation index in non-Kolmogorov weak atmospheric optics links is developed using the generalized von Kármán spectrum model, and using the equivalent structure constant that is different for all power-law exponents. The effect of the inner scale on the on-axis scintillation index is examined comprehensively. It is observed that flat-topped beams happen to possess smaller scintillation indices at larger inner scale. The effects of the power law, flat-topped order, source size of the fundamental Gaussian beam, propagation distance, and wavelength are also analyzed.
A clear air turbulence (CAT) detection method using a 532 nm visible light airborne laser radar (LiDAR) system is proposed to address the urgent challenge in the aviation safety field. This method is based on the indirect detection technique of atmospheric molecular density for CAT and utilizes the strong aerosol scattering absorption characteristics of the iodine molecular 1109 absorption line to eliminate the interference of aerosol scattering and extinction on the weak molecular backscattering signal caused by CAT. This enables CAT detection under conditions where traditional ultraviolet LiDAR systems fail to function properly due to aerosol presence. The influence of axial wind speed and atmospheric temperature variations on the molecular backscattering spectrum in the aircraft flight path is studied, and a formula for vertical wind speed inversion in the CAT field is derived. The 532 nm airborne LiDAR CAT detection theoretical model and system architecture are presented. Through simulation analysis, the CAT detection range of the visible light LiDAR system is evaluated under different aircraft cruising altitudes and turbulence intensities. The results indicate that, with the proposed LiDAR system, the aerosol scattering influence can be effectively suppressed, and CAT can be detected up to 7 km for light-to-moderate turbulence and 10 km for moderate turbulence ahead of the aircraft when traditional ultraviolet LiDAR systems fail as the backscattering coefficient ratio between aerosol and molecule reaches the 10−1 condition. Based on this finding, a suggestion is made to construct a dual-wavelength (ultraviolet-visible) LiDAR system for CAT detection, aiming to solve the full coverage problem of CAT detection under various aerosol conditions. This study has a reference value for promoting the early resolution of CAT detection in the aviation field.
We comprehensively investigated the influence of laser wavelength on the detection distance at different clear air turbulence (CAT) intensities, distance resolutions, and Brunt–Väisälä frequency theoretically. It is found that there exists the optimal wavelength for maximal detection distance. When the distance resolution is fixed, the detection distance of 532 nm LiDAR is further compared with the 355 and 1064 nm counterparts and is more suitable under moderate to severe CAT. Our findings break the traditional cognition that “ultraviolet wavelength LiDAR is the most suitable for CAT detection” and may promote the remote detection research of CAT.
Light scattering is a main factor that restricts optical transmission and deteriorates optical imaging performance. All-optical imaging for moving targets through complex scattering media is one of the most challenging techniques. In this paper, a method for real-time tracking of moving targets through scattering medium is presented by utilizing optical memory-effect and autocorrelation of speckle difference. In the experiment on imaging through a scattering medium, an object is hidden at a distance u behind a highly scattering medium. The object is illuminated by a spatially incoherent pseudothermal light source. The light is diffused through the scattering medium. Camera placed at a distance u0 on the other side of the medium records the pattern of the scattered light. According to the theory of optical memory-effect, the process of scattering imaging is a convolution process of point spread function (PSF) and object. In the procedure of object moving, the scattered signals from two frames are captured. The background noise could be removed by subtracting the two captured image. Then, the autocorrelation operation calculates the speckle difference, and hidden targets can be effectively reconstructed with the phase retrieval algorithm. The experiment demonstrates the imaging of targets with different speeds. The results have shown that the faster the speed, the worse the imaging quality is. High-speed moving objects can be imaged by using a high frame rate camera to reduce the exposure time or by disambiguating the speckle pattern. In subsequent experiments, the distance of the target movement is calculated with the magnification of the system. The collected two frames of speckle must be within the same memory effect angle. Only in this way can the calculation accuracy of the motion distance be guaranteed. With the moving of the target, the cross-correlation information of the target appears at different positions of the speckle difference autocorrelation map. Finally, according to the cross-correlation of the target at different locations, the real-time tracking of the moving target can be realized. Due to the Gaussian distribution of the laser beam, the cross-correlation intensity of the speckle difference autocorrelation map decreases with the object moving further. Therefore the target moving range is limited by the laser beam diameter, intensity distribution and camera field angle. It is verified experimentally that the imaging and tracking of moving targets which are hidden behind the ground glass can be achieved successfully by using this method. This kind of imaging and real-time tracking technology for targets moving through the scattering medium has important potential applications in biomedicine and other fields.
The predecessor of China Optics was China Optics and Applied Optics Digest, which was founded in 1985. At that time, it was the only retrieval journal in the field of optics in China. At the end of 2008, China Optics and Applied Optics Digest was renamed 《中国光学》的前身是1985年创办的《中国光学与应用光学文摘》,当时是国内光学领域唯一的检索刊物。2008年底《中国光学与应用光学文摘》转型更名为《中国光学与应用光学》期刊,刊载内容突破了文摘的限制,正式成为学术刊物。