Scattering of a general partially coherent beam from a diffuse target in atmospheric turbulence

The second-order and fourth-order statistical moments of the speckle field from a diffuse target in atmospheric turbulence are studied which have great influence on the performance of lidar systems. By expanding a general rotationally symmetric beam as a sum of Gaussian–Schell model(GSM) beams, the mean intensity of the general beam propagating over a distance in an atmospheric turbulence is formulated. Expressions for the degree of coherence(DOC) and the normalized intensity variance of the scattered field of a general beam from a rough surface in turbulence are derived based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel principle. The general expressions reduce to the well-known forms for a GSM beam. Another example for the general beam used in this paper is the collimated flat-topped beam. The results of both kinds of beams show that the intensity profile on the target plane is a key factor affecting the statistical characteristics of the speckle field.A larger beam spot on the target plane induces a smaller coherence length and a smaller normalized intensity variance of the received field. As turbulence gets stronger, the coherence length becomes smaller, and the normalized intensity variance firstly increases and declines to unity finally.