Propagation of supercontinuum laser sources in a slant path through the atmosphere.

Taking the atmospheric refraction, extinction and turbulence into account, the propagation characteristic of supercontinuum laser sources in a slant path through the turbulent atmosphere is investigated. The effect of spectral width, initial spot size and zenith angle in a slant path on the beam width and propagation efficiency are studied in details. Numerical examples reveal that the beam width and propagation efficiency are different values while the spectral width varies. With the zenith angle in a slant atmospheric path increasing, the beam width of supercontinuum laser sources will increase and propagation efficiency will decrease. The initial spot size has an optimal value when spectral width and zenith angle are fixed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]