Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-10-2023
Abstract
This work investigates steady-state thermal blooming of a high-energy laser in the presence of laser-driven convection. While thermal blooming has historically been simulated with prescribed fluid velocities, the model introduced here solves for the fluid dynamics along the propagation path using a Boussinesq approximation to the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The resultant temperature fluctuations were coupled to refractive index fluctuations, and the beam propagation was modeled using the paraxial wave equation. Fixed-point methods were used to solve the fluid equations as well as to couple the beam propagation to the steady-state flow. The simulated results are discussed relative to recent experimental thermal blooming results [Opt. Laser Technol. 146, 107568 (2022), with half-moon irradiance patterns matching for a laser wavelength at moderate absorption. Higher energy lasers were simulated within an atmospheric transmission window, with the laser irradiance exhibiting crescent profiles. Abstract © 2023 Optica Publishing Group.
Source Publication
Applied Optics
Recommended Citation
Jeremiah S. Lane, Justin Cook, Martin Richardson, and Benjamin F. Akers, "Numerical simulation of steady-state thermal blooming with natural convection," Appl. Opt. 62, 2092-2099 (2023)
Comments
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