Scintillation and bit error rate analysis of a partially coherent flat-topped array laser beam in maritime and terrestrial non-Kolmogorov atmospheric environments on a slant path

In this paper, on the basis of the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle, a semi-analytical expression for describing the on-axis scintillation index of a partially coherent flat-topped laser beam through non-Kolmogorov maritime and terrestrial atmospheric environments on a slant path is derived. Consequently, by using the log-normal intensity probability density function, the bit error rate (BER) is evaluated. The effects of source factors (such as wavelength, order of flatness, and beam width) and the non-Kolmogorov turbulent atmosphere parameters (such as the Kolmogorov inner scale, the spectral power-law exponent, and the turbulence structure constant) on propagation behavior of the scintillation index, and hence on the BER, are studied in detail. Results indicate that an increase in the average SNR causes a greater influence of the power-law exponent on the BER. Also, it can be deduced that the mean BER increases while the power-law exponent decreases. In addition, the scintillation index and BER as communication link parameters represent the fact that increasing the atmospheric refractive-index structure parameter on the ground and decreasing the inner scale of turbulence eddies causes an increase in these parameters. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America