Numerical simulation of thermal blooming with laser-induced convection

Abstract

High energy laser propagation through an absorbing fluid is examined via numerical simulation. In contrast to typical thermal blooming studies, both the laser and fluid dynamics are simulated. The beam propagation is modeled with the paraxial equation. The fluid medium is modeled with the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The Boussinesq approximation is used to couple the temperature to density variations. In this context, the interplay between laser-induced convection and refraction is observed. The fluid is taken to be initially homogeneous and quiescent; scintillation due to background fluctuations is ignored.