No abstract

We present a new paradigm for truly long-range propagation of high-power laser pulses through strong atmospheric turbulence. A form of nonlinear self-channeling is achieved when the laser power is close to the self-focusing power of air and the transverse dimensions of the pulse are smaller than the coherence diameter of turbulence. In this mode, nonlinear self-focusing counteracts diffraction, and turbulence-induced spreading is greatly reduced. Furthermore, the laser intensity is below the ionization threshold so that multiphoton absorption and plasma defocusing are avoided.Simulations show that the pulse can propagate many Rayleigh lengths (several kilometers) while maintaining a high intensity. In the presence of aerosols, or other extinction mechanisms that deplete laser energy, the pulse can be chirped to maintain the channeling.

We have constructed a 180-m-long distributed, continuously variable atmospheric turbulence generator to study high-power laser beam propagation. This turbulence generator operates on the principle of free convection from a heated surface placed below the entire propagation path of the beam, similar to the situation in long-distance horizontal propagation for laser communications, power beaming, or directed energy applications. The turbulence produced by this generator has been characterized through constant-temperature anemometry, as well as by the scintillation of a low-power laser beam.

A high-power laser beam propagating through a dielectric in the presence of fluctuations is subject to diffraction, dissipation, and optical Kerr nonlinearity. A method of moments was applied to a stochastic, nonlinear enveloped wave equation to analyze the evolution of the long-term spot radius. For propagation in atmospheric turbulence described by a Kolmogorov-von Kármán spectral density, the analysis was benchmarked against field experiments in the low-power limit and compared with simulation results in the high-power regime. Dissipation reduced the effect of self-focusing and led to chromatic aberration.