Temporal broadening of ultrashort space-time Gaussian pulses with applications in laser satellite communication

In this paper, analytic expressions for the temporal broadening of narrowband space-time Gaussian pulses propagating in weak optical turbulence are derived for both near and far fields. General results are presented for nominal parameter values characterizing laser communication through the atmosphere. Specific examples are calculated for both upper atmosphere UAV-UAV cross-links and uplink/downlink satellite communication paths. It is shown that for both the near and far fields, pulses on the order of 10-20 femtoseconds can broaden by more than 100% whereas pulses greater than 500 femtoseconds have negligible broadening