A Survey of Structure of Atmospheric Turbulence and

related effects
Nilesh Tiwari (2023PHZ8314)1
1
Department of Physics, IIT Delhi
* HSL800

24-04-2024

Abstract
We are unable to leave our living environment, which is the Earth’s atmosphere. An
example of a random inhomogeneous medium is atmospheric turbulence, which results in
random fluctuations in the amplitude and phase of optical waves that pass through it. As a
result of growing experimental data as well as theoretical research, it is now generally ac-
knowledged that there are two types of turbulence in the aerosphere: Kolmogorov turbulence
and non-Kolmogorov turbulence. The structure of atmospheric turbulence in the Earth’s
atmosphere is made up of non-Kolmogorov turbulence at higher levels and Kolmogorov
turbulence at lower levels, according to the results of atmospheric observations. Research-
ers have been examining optical wave propagation in air turbulence since Newton’s time.
The primary focus of early research was on optical wave propagation in Kolmogorov atmo-
spheric turbulence; later, research also included non-Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulence.
The study of optical wave propagation in air turbulence has advanced significantly after
more than 50 years of work, and the theoretical findings are also utilized to inform practical
applications. Based on this, we provide an overview of the current state of development
and advancements in the field of atmospheric turbulence propagation theory, encompassing
both conventional Kolmogorov turbulence and non-Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulence.
Furthermore, a summary of the effects of Non-Kolmogorov turbulence on optical wave
propagation in Earth’s atmosphere is provided. Gaussian beam geometry has been con-
sidered as optical wave. Since the Earth’s atmosphere is just one link in a long chain of uses
and developments in the growing field of quantum computation, this timely review is both
very required and significant.

Keywords: Turbulence, Gaussian beam, OAM beam, kolmogorov, MVKS.

1. Introduction
The Earth’s atmosphere is widely recognized to be a typical random inhomogeneous media
made up of two different types of medium: a "continuous" turbulent atmospheric medium made

1
up of molecules that are moving thermally, and a discrete turbid atmospheric medium made up
of particles. The energy attenuation of optical waves, or the attenuation effect, is caused by the
first medium. Effects of atmospheric turbulence, including intensity scintillation, beam wander,
beam spread, spot distortion, and angle-of-arrival fluctuations, are brought about by the second
medium Aleksandrov et al., 1990. Although systematic research on optical wave propagation in
atmospheric turbulence started in the mid-20th century, the subject was first studied by Newton.
Studies conducted as early as 1960 revealed that spectra in the lower atmosphere (across several
strata) dramatically deformed, exhibiting characteristics of the Kolmogorov statistic. Although
"non Kolmogorov fluctuations" are frequently observed in the free atmosphere, the turbulence
spectrum does encompass ranges such as −3, −5 3
, and others. Kolmogorov turbulence was the
focus of most of the early theoretical work on optical wave in atmospheric turbulence. However,
it was determined that Kolmogorov turbulence is only one aspect of the statistical characteristics
of the atmosphere and that non-Kolmogorov statistical features are displayed in some regions
of the Earth’s atmosphere through additional measurements of the atmosphere and theoretical
research on the statistical characteristics of atmospheric turbulence. This has further motivated
researchers and specialists both domestically and internationally to investigate optical wave
propagation in non-Kolmogorov turbulence. The structure of turbulence in the Earth’s atmo-
sphere must currently be concluded, and it is important to assess the development of optical
wave propagation theory study in atmospheric turbulence.
The Paper is arranged as follows. 2 discuss the structure of atmospheric turbulence both theoret-
ically and experimentally. It also discusses the effects of turbulence on optical wave propagation.
4 presented the simulation result of the effect of turbulence on the optical wave(OAM beam
geometry). ?? concludes the review.

2. Structure of Atmospheric Turbulence and its effects

2.1 Theoretical structure of Atmospheric Turbulence

To characterize turbulent motion, statistics are needed since it is a random motion and the turbu-
lent field is a random function of time and space variables. Knowing every structural function
of velocity is essential to comprehending and characterizing the statistical features of turbulent
fields. Still, a statistical theory of turbulence normally concentrates on low-order moments,
especially second-order statistical features, since it is challenging to get reliably high-order mo-
ments both theoretically and experimentally. The statistical theory of turbulent velocity field
was developed in 1941 by the former Soviet mathematician Kolmogorov, utilizing a dimensional
analysis approach and the Richardson cascade model. As of right now, another name for this
turbulence is Kolmogorov turbulence Monin et al., 1975. Kolmogorov thought that under large
Reynolds numbers, these turbulent vortices of various sizes coexisted. Eventually, the small-
scale turbulent vortices in the cascade process reached statistical equilibrium, resulting in the
formation of local isotropic turbulence.

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Based on the aforementioned hypotheses, Kolmogorov employed a dimensional analysis tech-
nique to ultimately produce the turbulent velocity field’s structural function, which was a 23
power function of the space variable. Furthermore, spectral analysis is a crucial mathematical
technique for researching statistical features of the second order. In the statistical theory of
turbulence, the power spectral density of turbulence has developed into a crucial mathematical
tool for characterizing the statistical characteristics of the turbulent field. The velocity-turbulent
field’s power spectral density follows a power law of −11 3
in proportion to the spatial frequency.
Andrews & Phillips, 1998
Empirical evidence demonstrates that the 23 law for Kolmogorov turbulence must also be satisfied
by the structure function of passive and conservative turbulent fields. Since the refractive-index
turbulent field is one of the passive conservative quantities, it should also meet the 23 law, which
has the following formula:
−11
Dn (k) = Cn2 k 3 (1)

where Cn2 is refractive index structure constant and k is magnitude of spectral frequency in
units of rad/m.
The Kolmogorov power spectrum (ϕn (k)) is given by formula:

−11
ϕn (k) = 0.033Cn2 k 3 (2)

The problem associated with the above-discussed model is that it blows up if k → 0. Hence,
there are other proposed models that solve this problem. Modified Von Karman model Chatterjee
& Mohamed (2014) is given by following formula:
2
0.033Cn2 − k2
k0
ϕn (k) = 2 )−11/3
e (3)
(k 2 + km

2π 2π
where km = L0
and k0 = l0
. L0 and l0 are the outer and inner scale of turbulence respectively.

2.2 Experimental Studies on Atmospheric Turbulence

Parts of Earth’s atmosphere deviate from Kolmogolov’s turbulent model, according to recent
measurements of temperature and star scintillation from ground-based radar and tether balloons
in the sky. Balin and colleagues employed lidar to investigate the aerosol fluctuation beha-
vior in the lower troposphere. They subsequently examined the statistical rule of the passive
conservative turbulent field at various troposphere heights. The findings demonstrated a −5
power spectrum and an inconsistency between the statistical law of the turbulent field and the
Kolmogorov turbulence model in this region [Zilberman et al., 2008]. Since then, the strato-
spheric atmosphere has been the subject of several experimental investigations. Dalaudier et
al. used radar and balloons to determine the power spectrum of one-dimensional temperature
changes along the slant route of Earth’s atmosphere. The findings verified the three-dimensional
power spectrum of −5 power rate and demonstrated that neither the upper troposphere nor the
entire stratospheric turbulent atmosphere obeyed Kolmogorov statistical law [Dalaudier et al.,

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1989].

2.2.1 Theoretical study of Turbulent effect

It is widely known that as an optical wave travels through air turbulence, its amplitude and phase
randomly fluctuate due to minute random variations in the index of refraction. Optical wave
propagation is essentially affected by atmospheric turbulence when its coherence is destroyed.
This can be seen in a variety of atmospheric turbulence effects, including beam wander, beam
spread, spot distortion, irradiance scintillation, and fluctuations in the angle of arrival. Solving
the wave equation for the electric field of an optical wave or for the different moments of the field
is necessary to explain these random changes in amplitude and phase. The detailed description
of air turbulence was overlooked in the process of solving the aforementioned equations. The
Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulence effect theoretical approach, therefore, also applies to non-
Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulence.
The focus of research has shifted towards studying the features of optical wave propagation in
non-Kolmogorov air turbulence under severe fluctuation circumstances. Substantial scientific
progress has been made in this area. Yi et al. investigated the coherence radius, phase
structure function, and scintillation index of plane wave and spherical wave in non-Kolmogorov
air turbulence with significant variations. They employed the universal von-Karman power
spectrum for their analysis [Yi et al., 2012]. Cui et al. investigated the variances of angle-
of-arrival fluctuations in non-Kolmogorov turbulence with strong fluctuations. They used the
modified Rytov theory and based their study on the universal von-Karman power spectrum [Cui
et al., 2013]. In addition, Cui et al. conducted a study on the impact of non-Kolmogorov
atmospheric turbulence on fluctuations in the angle of arrival for both plane waves and spherical
waves.

3. Results of effect of atmospheric turbulence

Figure 1: Illustration of the split-step method showing one realization of propagation of OAM
states

4
 The illustration 4 demonstrates that the intensity profile of the OAM states remains relatively
unchanged up to a distance of 500 m, but experiences significant degradation over a propagation
distance of 2 km. The detection and separation of Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) modes,
which are necessary for applications like free space communication, might present difficulties
when dealing with long-distance pathways affected by turbulence.Khare et al., 2020

Figure 2: The scintillation index plotted as a function of total propagation distance for weak and
strong turbulence. The (constant) parameters are w0=30 mm, r0=10 mm, l0=10 mm, L0=1000
mm

The diagram 5 illustrates the fluctuation of the scintillation index. In this passage, the author
illustrates that when the Gaussian beam travels through air turbulence, it experiences beam
wandering and deterioration, resulting in the loss of information.Chatterjee & Mohamed, 2014
Critical Review: From both the above-illustrated diagrams, signal-to-noise ratio must decrease;
however, coherence form must be preserved.

4. Conclusions
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of both experimental and theoretical findings on
atmospheric turbulence. Additionally, it presents a detailed examination of the structure of
atmospheric turbulence inside Earth’s atmosphere. The composition of the turbulence in this
system consists of Kolmogorov turbulence in the boundary layer, non-Kolmogorov turbulence
with a power law exponent of −10 3
in the free atmosphere, and non-Kolmogorov turbulence with
a power law exponent of −5 in the stratosphere. Firstly, a brief overview of the advancement
of propagation theory for Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulence is provided. Subsequently, the
study findings on the impacts of non-Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulence are explained in
detail. This primarily encompasses a range of atmospheric turbulence phenomena, including
intensity scintillation, changes in angle-of-arrival, beam wander, beam spread, and temporal
power spectrum. Ultimately, we provide a concise overview of the research advancements made
in understanding the combined impacts of non-Kolmogorov and Kolmogorov air turbulence on
the propagation of optical waves. Furthermore, we presented results of effect of atmospheric
turbulence on both OAM beam and gaussian beam geometry. These results provide insight into
the fact that the information sent has been compromised.

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Acknowledgments
The author thanks the various researchers in field of atmospheric turbulence for their valuabel
work. This work is supported in part by funds from the National Science Foundation.

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