Field correlations of flat-topped Gaussian and annular beams in turbulence

Starting from the second order moment formulation for multi-beam incidence, field correlations at the receiver plane of flat-topped Gaussian and annular beams are found in turbulence. Reflecting the information on both the randomness due to turbulence and the field profile of the incident field, field correlations of the flat-topped Gaussian beams are found to become larger at larger source size, smaller flatness parameters and smaller turbulence strengths. For the annular beam structures, field correlations are larger for thicker beams. Field correlations of larger primary beam sized annular incidences are smaller at smaller diagonal distances and larger at larger diagonal distances. As expected, annular beam field correlations are found to be larger at smaller structure constants and at smaller wavelengths. However, at large link lengths, field correlations could be larger than at smaller link lengths due to fact that for annular beams, the field at the centre of the receiver attains very small value at smaller link lengths, however, on propagation in turbulence, receiver field distribution changes to a Gaussian profile.

► Absolute received field correlations of flat-topped Gaussian and annular beams are evaluated in atmospheric turbulence.
► Flatter and small sized flat-topped Gaussian beams have smaller correlation, and thicker annular beams have larger correlation.
► For both beams, absolute field correlations are large at weaker turbulence strengths.
► Field correlations in turbulence also depend on diffraction patterns.