Atmospheric turbulence is a major limitation to optical high resolution imaging systems observing through the lower atmosphere. In most conditions, it limits the angular resolution to about one arcsecond, which is the resolution of a small 10 cm telescope operating in the visible. From a theoretical standpoint, its effects on beam propagation can be rather well predicted with the knowledge of atmospheric conditions and the assumption of the Kolmogorov turbulence law. Then, the practical problem turns out to be the characterization of propagation conditions and the compensation of turbulence effects.

Date Published: 1 September 1990
PDF: 14 pages
Proc. SPIE 1312, Propagation Engineering: Third in a Series, (1 September 1990); doi: 10.1117/12.21867

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1312:
Propagation Engineering: Third in a Series
Luc R. Bissonnette; Walter B. Miller, Editor(s)