In the present communication, a systematic characterization of atmospheric turbulence simulator (ATS) based on near-index-matched optics is reported. Characteristics of the propagating laser beam in actual turbulence can be realized in the laboratory by employing such types of turbulence simulators. Such simulators are necessarily required to evaluate the performance of an adaptive optics sensor and compensator modules in the laboratory. Various strengths of atmospheric turbulence can be generated by selecting the different speeds of rotation and the diameters of the beam-interacting area of ATS. A MATLAB-based high-speed video processing method is developed and used for estimating the various turbulence parameters such as angle-of-arrival fluctuations, Fried parameter, Hurst exponent, turbulence frequencies and the scintillation index from the generated turbulence. Also, the maximum transmitted wavefront error produced by this turbulence simulator is measured by an in-house developed Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor.

中文翻译：

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基于近折射率匹配光学系统的大气湍流模拟器的系统表征

在本通讯中，报告了基于近折射率匹配光学系统的大气湍流模拟器（ATS）的系统表征。通过使用这种类型的湍流模拟器，可以在实验室中实现实际湍流中传播的激光束的特性。这种模拟器是评估实验室中自适应光学传感器和补偿器模块的性能所必需的。通过选择不同的旋转速度和ATS的光束相互作用区域的直径，可以产生各种强度的大气湍流。开发了一种基于MATLAB的高速视频处理方法，并将其用于估算各种湍流参数，例如到达角波动，Fried参数，Hurst指数，湍流频率和由产生的湍流产生的闪烁指数。而且，由这种湍流模拟器产生的最大透射波前误差是由内部开发的Shack-Hartmann波前传感器测量的。