Analytical model for structured light propagation through a turbulent atmosphere
Abstract
We develop a straightforward analytical framework for the propagation of spatial light modes through a turbulent atmosphere. Built upon the split-step approach with the mode-based optical field representation, it directly assesses how turbulence-induced phase fluctuations deplete the optical power in the original mode and re-distribute it into neighboring spatial modes. Importantly, this power transfer scales linearly with the propagation distance in a uniform channel, yielding a simple solution for arbitrary distances in the form of a matrix exponential. The transfer rate is determined by the spatial spectral overlap between the turbulence spectrum and the acceptance spectrum for a pair of interacting spatial modes. The model predicts the average power in each spatial mode and is exact when a single mode strongly dominates all others. Our predictions show reasonably good agreement with simulations up to medium-to-strong turbulence levels. The model also confirms the scalings with mode order previously known as empirical observations.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{kravtsov2026analytical,
title = {{Analytical model for structured light propagation through a turbulent atmosphere}},
author = {Konstantin Kravtsov},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2605.30304},
eprint = {2605.30304},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.30304},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Analytical model for structured light propagation through a turbulent atmosphere
AU - Konstantin Kravtsov
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2605.30304
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.30304
AB - We develop a straightforward analytical framework for the propagation of spatial light modes through a turbulent atmosphere. Built upon the split-step approach with the mode-based optical field representation, it directly assesses how turbulence-induced phase fluctuations deplete the optical power in the original mode and re-distribute it into neighboring spatial modes. Importantly, this power transfer scales linearly with the propagation distance in a uniform channel, yielding a simple solution for arbitrary distances in the form of a matrix exponential. The transfer rate is determined by the spatial spectral overlap between the turbulence spectrum and the acceptance spectrum for a pair of interacting spatial modes. The model predicts the average power in each spatial mode and is exact when a single mode strongly dominates all others. Our predictions show reasonably good agreement with simulations up to medium-to-strong turbulence levels. The model also confirms the scalings with mode order previously known as empirical observations.
ER -