The Atmospheric Mutual Coherence Function From the First and Second Rytov Approximations and Its Comparison to That of Strong Fluctuation Theory

An expression for the mutual coherence function (MCF) of an electromagnetic beam wave propagating through atmospheric turbulence is derived within the confines of the Rytov approximation. It is shown that both the first and second Rytov approximations are required. The Rytov MCF is then compared to that which issues from the parabolic equation method of strong fluctuation theory. The agreement is found to be quite good in the weak fluctuation case. However, an instability is observed for the special case of beam wave intensities. The source of the instabilities is identified to be the characteristic way beam wave amplitudes are treated within the Rytov method.