Popis: |
An optical system has been designed, analyzed, implemented, and calibrated which measures the phase difference between two points of a propagating laser beam. The system is a quadrature interferometer whose detector outputs are processed by a computer. This quadrature interferometer measures both the phase and amplitude variations between two points of a laser beam after the beam passes through turbulence. These measurements are in turn processed by a computer to isolate the phase variations from the amplitude variations. Further statistical analysis which can be performed on these phase variations should provide an understanding of the phase fluctuations of propagating laser beams through the atmosphere. |