Heterodyne Receiver For Visible Radiation Transmitted Through The Atmosphere

Charles M. Mclntyre; James H. Churnside

doi:10.1117/12.956539

18 August 1978 Heterodyne Receiver For Visible Radiation Transmitted Through The Atmosphere

Charles M. Mclntyre, James H. Churnside

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 0142, Optical Properties of the Atmosphere; (1978) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.956539
Event: 1978 Technical Symposium East, 1978, Washington, D.C., United States

Abstract

Optical heterodyne receivers operating in the turbulent atmosphere are subject to severe degradations in performance caused by random fluctuations in the index of refraction of air. These performance degradations can be minimized by understanding the statistical nature of the optical field after propagation over an atmospheric path. In order to gain some insight into these effects, an optical link consisting of a He-Ne laser transmitter operating at a wavelength of 632.8 nanometers, and a four element heterodyne receiver array containing a frequency tracking local oscillator was fabricated and operated over a 1.6 kilometer horizontal path in the turbulent atmosphere. The outputs of each of the array elements was separately demodulated and the probability density function for two or more elements was experimentally determined. The measured density function agree well with theoritical predictions. This work provides a basis for determining optimum receiver processing systems and will lead to bit error probability measurements for these optimum recievers.

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Charles M. Mclntyre and James H. Churnside "Heterodyne Receiver For Visible Radiation Transmitted Through The Atmosphere", Proc. SPIE 0142, Optical Properties of the Atmosphere, (18 August 1978); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.956539

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