Simulation of partially spatially coherent laser beam and comparison with field test data for both terrestrial and maritime environments

We simulate the propagation of both a partially spatially coherent infra-red (IR) and a visible laser beam through a turbulent atmosphere, and we compare the intensity fluctuations produced in the simulation to the intensity fluctuations that are observed in both maritime and terrestrial environments at the US Naval Academy. We focus on the effect of the level of turbulence and the degree of the beam's spatial coherence on the receiver scintillations, and we compare the probability density function (PDF) of the intensity in our simulation to the experimental data. We also investigate the effect of optical beam spreading on the coherent and partially coherent laser beams along the propagation path.