Quantifying the errors in modeling optical propagation in a turbulent atmosphere using different phase screen synthesization methods

Kurzfassung

In this publication the results obtained modeling the propagation of an optical wave in a turbulent atmosphere using three different phase screen synthesization methods are compared. The three investigated algorithms are the classical random phase method, its optimized version by the addition of the sub-harmonics correction, and a new method based on the phase correlation function, named correlation-based random phase method. The structure functions of the phase screens synthesized using the three methods are compared with respect to the theoretical one, showing how the correlation-based random phase method, solving the bandwidth error arising while using a single discrete Fourier transform, offers a better accuracy with respect to the two other methods. Finally, the results obtained by propagating the same wave through the phase screens synthesized using the different methods are compared considering the obtained point spread functions and the aberration content of each phase screen.