Measurements of the Beam-Wave Fluctuations over a 142-km Atmospheric Path

Kurzfassung

An optical link has been established between the Canary Islands La Palma and Tenerife. A 1064-nm transmitting laser was located on La Palma whereas a BPSK communication receiver and measurement instruments were installed in ESA's OGS on Tenerife. Beside the demonstration of a high-data-rate coherent signal transmission, the goal of the experiment was to measure the effects of the atmosphere on the beam propagation in order to estimate its impact on optical links. Wavefront distortions have been investigated by means of a DIMM instrument and scintillation was observed by imaging the pupil of the OGS telescope on a CCD camera. Strong scintillation was observed during the entire campaign with scintillation peaks at sunsets and sunrises, and saturation at about noon. Because of the narrowness of the beam (10-μrad divergence), beam wander has been a serious issue. Statistical results are compared with theory.