Turbulence-induced changes in degree of polarization, degree of coherence and spectrum of partially coherent electromagnetic beams

Based on a recently formulated unified theory of coherence and polarization, a method is described to study turbulence-induced changes in the polarization, the coherence and the spectrum of partially coherent electromagnetic beams on propagation. The electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beam is taken as a typical example of partially coherent electromagnetic beams, and the closed-form expressions for the degree of polarization, the degree of coherence and the spectrum of electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beams propagating through atmospheric turbulence are derived in the quadratic approximation of Rytov's phase structure function. Some interesting results are obtained, which are illustrated by numerical examples and are explained in physics.