Influence of atmospheric turbulence on the propagation of superimposed partially coherent Hermite-Gaussian beams

The influence of atmospheric turbulence on the propagation of superimposed partially coherent Hermite-Gaussian (H-G) beams is studied in detail. The closed-form propagation equation of superimposed partially coherent H-G beams through atmospheric turbulence is derived. It is shown that the turbulence accelerates the evolution of three stages which superimposed partially coherent H-G beams undergo. The turbulence results in a beam spreading and a decrease of the maximum intensity. However, the larger the beam number M, the beam order m, the separate distance x(d), and the smaller the beam correlation length sigma(0) are, the less the power focusability, of superimposed partially coherent H-G beams is affected by the turbulence. Specialty, superimposed partially coherent H-G beams are less sensitive to turbulence than superimposed fully ones, and than partially coherent H-G beams if the beam power focusability and the maximum intensity are taken as beam criterions. However, the maximum intensity of superimposed partially coherent H-G beams is less sensitive or more sensitive to turbulence than that of superimposed Gaussian Schell-model (GSM) beams depending on sigma(0). (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.