Phase fluctuations of radio waves behind a turbulent phase screen

We consider the problem of phase fluctuations of radio waves behind a turbulent optically thin irregular layer (phase screen). Expressions are derived for the main statistical characteristics of phase fluctuations in the case where modern direct methods based on measurements of the complex field of the received radiation are used to obtain these characteristics. Regimes of weak and saturated scintillations of signals are analyzed. It is shown that in the case of weak scintillations, such statistical characteristics of phase fluctuations of the received radiation as the structure function and the fluctuation spectra for single-point and interference reception almost coincide with those at the screen output. In the regime of saturated scintillations, we obtain an information on the structure function of phase fluctuations of the received radiation in the cases of relatively large and small spatial separations of the reception points. The results obtained allow one to correctly analyze the data of modern experiments on remote sensing of the near-Earth and space plasmas with the help of direct phase methods for environmental diagnostics. © 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.