Detector saturation effect on higher-order moments of intensity fluctuations in atmospheric laser propagation measurement

Abstract

We investigate the influence of the detection-system saturation on the intensity-fluctuation statistics in measurements of optical scintillation induced by atmospheric turbulence. The statistical distribution of the intensity is assumed to be log normal. The values of the nth moments detected by the apparatus are shown to depend on the ratio between the saturation intensity of the detector and the mean intensity of the distribution to be measured.