Beam wander of partially coherent array beams through non-Kolmogorov turbulence

Based on the theory of second moments and non-Kolmogorov spectrum, the beam wander theory is extend to non-Kolmogorov turbulence, the general analytical expression of beam wander in non-Kolmogorov turbulence is derived. Beam wander depends on the non-Kolmogorov turbulence parameters and the initial second moments of the laser beam at the input plane. Taking the Gaussian Schell model array beams as an example, the effects of the generalized exponent parameter, inner scale, and outer scale of non-Kolmogorov turbulence and the beam separation distance, beam number, and coherence degree on the beam wander are studied in detail. It has been shown that the beam wander varies non-monotonically with increasing generalized exponent parameter of the turbulence. Furthermore, it increases as the inner scale decreases or outer scale increases, and decreases as the beam separation distance and beam number increase and the coherence of the beam becomes weaker. Our results also indicate that the beam wander could be reduced by adjusting the beam parameters appropriately. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America