The effects of atmospheric turbulence on the energy distribution and hence on the safety range of a laser are covered by most military and outdoor laser safety standards. In these standards, a formula for assessing the energy distribution maxima after traveling through a turbulent medium is given. This formula assumes a Gaussian beam in the far field and has no consideration of the effects of the turbulence on the beam geometry. The use of Kolmogorov phase screens to advance the beam through atmospheric turbulence enables an accurate assessment of atmospheric effects on the laser safety range.

Topics
Atmospheric dynamics, Spatial effect, Gaussian beam
1.
Military laser safety, JSP390, 2005 edition.
2.
Safe use of lasers outdoors, ANSI Z136.6 (2000).
3.
Evaluation and control of laser hazard on military ranges, STANAG No. 3606, Ed.5 (1991).
4.
V. I.
Tatarski
 (
1971
) “The effects of the turbulent atmosphere on wave propagation”,
Keter Press
.
5.
A.
Ishimaro
 (
1978
) “Wave propagation and scattering in random media”,
Academic press
.
6.
R. G.
Lane
,
A.
Glindemann
 and
J. C.
Dainty
 (
1992
) “
Simulation of a Kolmogorov phase screen
”,
Waves in Random Media
,
2
, pp.
209
–
224
. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1088/0959-7174/2/3/003
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
7.
L. E.
Wittig
 and
A. K
Sinha
 (
1975
) “
Simulation of multicorrelated random processes using the FFT algorithm
”,
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
, Vol.
58
, No.
3
. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1121/1.380702
Google Scholar
 
8.
C. M.
Harding
,
R. A.
Johnston
 and
R. G.
Lane
 (
1999
) “
Fast simulation of a Kolmogorov phase screen
”,
App. Opt.
, Vol.
38
, No.
11
. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.38.002161
Google Scholar
 
9.
J. W.
Goodman
 (
1996
) “Introduction to Fourier optics”,
McGraw Hill
.
This content is only available via PDF.
© 2007 Laser Institute of America.
2007
Laser Institute of America
You do not currently have access to this content.