Isoplanatic angle in finite distance: theory analysis on measurement feasibility

Opt Lett. 2014 Feb 15;39(4):789-92. doi: 10.1364/OL.39.000789.

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that the isoplanatic angle (θ₀) can be measured by using plane-wave scintillation. The problem of measuring the isoplanatic angle in a finite distance using spherical-wave scintillation is considered in this Letter. Based on theoretical analysis and numerical evaluation, we found that by selecting suitable aperture size and aperture separations, the isoplanatic angle can be estimated through spherical-wave scintillation and covariance of irradiance in three received apertures using a point source. The error of θ₀ measured by this method is less than 6% in typical turbulence models.