Effects of laser propagation through atmospheric turbulence on imaging quality in Fourier telescopy

In order to determine the imaging quality degradation caused by the laser propagation through atmospheric turbulence in the Fourier telescopy system, the effects of turbulence on beam propagation characteristics are analyzed. We pointed out that the degradation in the quality of imaging is mainly from the beam wander and beam spreading induced by atmospheric turbulence that arises the pointing error. The mechanism of the pointing error affecting imaging process is analyzed. The pointing errors caused by turbulence of the entire uplink are calculated and imaging results are simulated under different atmospheric conditions. It is concluded that in weak and moderate turbulence (the refractive index structure constant of atmospheric turbulence is less than 10-14 m-2/3), the random pointing error is small (the random pointing offset proportion is less than 0.06) while the reconstructed image has good recognizability. However, in strong turbulence, imaging quality suffers severe decline. Thus the Fourier telescopy should be selected to avoid the strong turbulence location and time.