Characterizing the propagation path in moderate to strong optical turbulence

In February 2005 a joint atmospheric propagation experiment was conducted between the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation and the University of Central Florida. A Gaussian beam was propagated along a horizontal 1500 m path near the ground. Scintillation was measured simultaneously at three receivers of diameters 1, 5, and 13 mm. Scintillation theory combined with a numerical scheme was used to infer the structure constant C^2 n, the inner scale l0, and the outer scale L0 from the optical measurements. At the same time, C^2 n measurements were taken by a commercial scintillometer, set up parallel to the optical path. The C^2 n values from the inferred scheme and the commercial scintillometer predict the same behavior, but the inferred scheme consistently gives slightly smaller C^2 n values.