Observation of the enhancement of coherence by backscattering through turbulence

We present results of an experiment in which a plane mirror is coherently illuminated and viewed through a turbulent cell. Using a two-pinhole aperture in the pupil plane for both illumination and viewing, we have obtained time-averaged images containing fringes. This gives qualitative confirmation of theoretical predictions claiming that the enhanced back-scattering effect may be used to image deterministic objects. © 1992