Scintillation of a partially coherent flat-topped beam in a turbulent atmosphere and plasma link

Scintillation restricts the development of free space optical communication in near-space hypersonic vehicles. We derived analytical formulae for the on-axis scintillation index of a partially coherent flat-topped beam in a bidirectional turbulent atmosphere and plasma link based on the Collins formula. The numerical results indicate that over long-distance propagation ranges, the on-axis scintillation index of a partially coherent flat-topped beam in bidirectional transmission is smaller than that of a Gaussian Schell model beam under the same conditions. Our results can provide a theoretical basis for free-space optical communications.