On the temporal coherence loss of strongly scintillating signals

In this paper, we have reprocessed a set of previously published intensity coherence time data to correct for wave front curvature. The spherical wave correction decreases the coherence time for a simple plane wave. Under conditions of strong scatter, theory predicts a simple power law relationship between the intensity coherence time and the phase turbulent strength. In the theory the power law index is simply related to the phase spectral index, which is usually assumed to be constant. Previously, this theory had been applied to test the consistency of the results. Evidence has recently come to light, however, that both the phase and in situ spectral indices vary systematically with changing perturbation strength. By accommodating this variation as well as the wave front curvature correction, we were able to greatly improve the theoretical fit to the intensity coherence time data.