Scintillation Increase Induced by Focusing (Invited)

Abstract

We show that the focusing of a random electromagnetic beam by a lens gives rise to a scintillation index at the geometrical focus that generally differs from that of the incident beam. In the examples we present, focusing produces a significant increase of the index. This observation is of particular relevance for optical communication systems in which scintillation is a major cause of signal degradation.

Keywords

• scintillation
• focusing
• electromagnetic beams
• free-space optical communication