Instabilities of atmospheric laser propagation

Thomas J. Karr

doi:10.1117/12.18327

1 May 1990 Instabilities of atmospheric laser propagation

Thomas J. Karr

Proceedings Volume 1221, Propagation of High-Energy Laser Beams Through the Earth's Atmosphere; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.18327
Event: OE/LASE '90, 1990, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

The 'thermal blooming' nonlinearity associated with lasers' atmospheric propagation causes several other propagation instabilities which limit the maximum power transmissible by the atmosphere; these are stimulated thermal Rayleigh scattering, the closed-loop instability, the phase-compensation instability, and, in the case of a repetitively-pulsed laser, the stimulated thermal Brillouin scattering instability. These instabilities, which are excited by optical turbulence along the atmospheric path and by noise of the laser beam, grow through the creation of three-dimensional filament or ribbon structures in the atmosphere which are correlated to disturbances of the laser beam. Phase and intensity compensation can be implemented in principle, via special arrangements of such phase-only correctors as deformable mirrors.

Citation Download Citation

Thomas J. Karr "Instabilities of atmospheric laser propagation", Proc. SPIE 1221, Propagation of High-Energy Laser Beams Through the Earth's Atmosphere, (1 May 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.18327

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