Intensity correlations of general type beam in weakly turbulent atmosphere

In weakly turbulent atmosphere, intensity correlations at the receiver plane are formulated for a general type optical beam. Evaluating our formula at the appropriate source parameters versus the diagonal distance, intensity correlations for cos Gaussian, cosh Gaussian, annular and flat-topped Gaussian beams are obtained. As compared to Gaussian beam, intensity correlations are found smaller for cos Gaussian and larger for cosh Gaussian beams. Intensity correlations of cos Gaussian, cosh Gaussian and flat-topped Gaussian beams become larger at large source sizes. Thicker annular beams and flatter flat-topped Gaussian beams show larger intensity correlations. Without generalizing, intensity correlations tend to increase when the link length and the structure constant decrease and the wavelength increases. Our results show that the intensity correlations are not only built up using random medium effects, but also using the diffraction pattern formed at the receiver plane for the specific incidence investigated. As a check point, for all source types and medium parameters, our evaluations indicate that intensity correlations approach zero at sufficiently large diagonal distances. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.