Polarization properties of partially coherent electromagnetic elegant Laguerre–Gaussian beams in turbulent atmosphere

Based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel Principle and the unified theory of coherence and polarization, the analytical formulas for the polarization degree and spectral coherence degree of partially coherent electromagnetic elegant Laguerre–Gaussian (PCEELG) beams through turbulent atmosphere are obtained theoretically in detail. It is found that the polarization degree of PCEELG beams tends to the value of its source plane after a sufficiently long propagation distance in turbulent atmosphere. Furthermore, this value is independent of the beam orders, the correlation length in the source plane and the structure constant of the turbulent atmosphere (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$C_{n}^{2}$\end{document}). The polarization degree of PCEELG beams also acquires a particular value at a certain distance in free space, which is different from the value in the source plane. The spectral coherence degree of PCEELG beams has an oscillatory behavior for different propagation distance, beam orders and \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$C_{n}^{2}$\end{document}.