Spreading of partially coherent flattened Gaussian beams propagating through turbulent media

Based on the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle, the spreading of partially coherent flattened Gaussian beams propagating through turbulent media is studied by using the incoherent superposition of higher-order Hermite-Gaussian beams. The mean-squared width of partially coherent flattened Gaussian beams in turbulence is derived. It is shown that the spreading of partially coherent flattened Gaussian beams increases with increasing turbulent parameter C-n(2) and beam order N. However, the difference between the relative spreading of partially coherent flattened Gaussian beams in turbulent media and in free space reduces as N increases. Therefore, partially coherent flattened Gaussian beams with high N are less sensitive to the effects of turbulence than those with lower N.