Synthetic aperture ladar simulations with phase screens and Fourier propagation

The ability to simulate the effect of turbulence on the phases and amplitudes of laser beams will aid the development of a practical synthetic aperture ladar (SAL). Simulations can obtain results in areas of interest that are resistant to theoretical investigation. Modeling turbulence with phase screens and using Fourier propagation can achieve the requisite simulation accuracy in reasonable computation time. Where possible, simulation results are compared to theoretical expectations. Tutorial information on generating random phase screens in a computationally efficient and conceptually simple way from a Kolmogorov (or any other) turbulence power spectrum is provided.