Aperture Averaging

doi:10.1117/3.412858.ch6

Aperture Averaging

Book: Laser Beam Scintillation with Applications

Author(s): Larry C. Andrews, Ronald L. Phillips, Cynthia Y. Young

Published: 2001

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.412858.ch6

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

The decrease in scintillation with increasing telescope collecting area, known as aperture averaging, had been recognized in early astronomical measurements made in the 1950s [1]. These same measurements revealed that aperture averaging causes a shift of the relative frequency content of the irradiance power spectrum toward lower frequencies - in essence, averaging out the fastest fluctuations. More recently, aperture averaging effects have been studied in the context of laser beam propagation through atmospheric turbulence [2-8].