Transmission characteristics of Gaussian array beams in seawater-to-air propagating incorporating turbulence media and foam layer

Abstract

This paper investigates the propagation of Gaussian array beams (GABs) through seawater-to-air in the presence of oceanic turbulence, atmospheric turbulence, and wave foams. Specifically, we focus on the intensity distribution of diverse typical GAB structures (ring, multi-ring, and rectangle). Then, an innovative intensity analysis model to calculate the average intensity in each medium is proposed. Moreover, we experimentally verify the proposed method by examining the intensity fading characteristic of Gaussian beams in the seawater-to-air path. Our results show that the peak intensity is primarily affected by the refraction in the ocean and foam layer, rather than air layer. The difference of theoretical and experimental values are less than 0.13 for the peak intensity. Moreover, the intensity distributions are more significantly affected by ocean turbulence but less influenced by wind speed.