Average Intensity and Spreading of Par- Tially Coherent Four-petal Gaussian Beams in Turbulent Atmosphere

The concept of partially coherent four-petal Gaussian (PCFPG) beam is introduced and described in analytical forms. Based on the Huygens-Fresnel integral formula, average intensity and beam spreading in turbulent atmosphere are derived in analytical expressions. Effects of beam parameters and atmospheric structure constant on intensity distributions and effective beam sizes are investigated in detail, respectively. Results show that PCFPG beams carrying larger coherence lengths or higher beam orders would be less affected by turbulence. It is also indicated that, when the propagation distance increases, the PCFPG beam would convert into the Gausslike profile sooner or later, but this degradation can be reduced by modulating beam parameters. Results in this paper may provide potential applications in free-space optical communications.