Scaling Laws for the Noise-equivalent Angle and C-tilt, G-tilt Anisoplanatism Due to Scintillation
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-10-2025
Abstract
In this paper, we derive single-integral solutions, applicable in the weak-to-moderate scintillation regime, for both the noise equivalent angle (NEA) due to scintillation and the scintillation-induced root mean squared error (RMSE) between gradient tilt (G-tilt) and centroid tilt (C-tilt). In practice, the NEA due to scintillation gives a measure of the scintillation-induced track error, whereas the scintillation-induced RMSE between C-tilt and G-tilt gives a measure of the C-tilt, G-tilt anisoplanatism due to scintillation. Assuming spherical-wave propagation, we fit closed-form expressions to the numerically integrated solutions. These closed-form expressions serve as “scaling laws,” and we validate their use with wave-optics simulations. At large, we determine that the one-axis NEA due to scintillation scales as a function of aperture size, propagation distance, wavelength, and Rytov number, whereas the one-axis scintillation-induced RMSE between C-tilt and G-tilt scales proportionally to the Rytov number when normalized by the diffraction angle. These findings will aid in the design of active electro-optical systems, which inevitably experience the effects of scintillation when imaging through distributed-volume turbulence.
Source Publication
Applied Optics (ISSN 1559-128X | eISSN 2155-3165)
Recommended Citation
Eric W. Mitchell, Derek J. Burrell, Milo W. Hyde, Ronald G. Driggers, and Mark F. Spencer, "Scaling laws for the noise-equivalent angle and C-tilt, G-tilt anisoplanatism due to scintillation," Appl. Opt. 64, E11-E19 (2025)
Comments
© 2025 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement
The "Link to Full Text" on this page opens the full article, hosted at the publisher website. A PDF is available for download at that location.
This article is part of the Applied Optics Institutional Focus Issue of Applied Optics, Air Force Institute of Technology