Average intensity of a partially coherent rectangular flat-topped laser array propagating in a turbulent atmosphere

Abstract

The propagation of a partially coherent rectangular flat-topped laser array in a turbulent atmosphere is studied. An analytical expression for the average intensity distribution at the receiving plane is obtained based on an extended Huygens-Fresnel principle. The effect of correlation length, intensity of turbulence, laser numbers, and beam orders on the beam quality in a target plane is studied by numerical examples.