Changes in the spectrum and polarization of polychromatic partially coherent electromagnetic beams in the turbulent atmosphere

The polychromatic partially coherent electromagnetic Cosh-Gaussian (EChG) beam is introduced and taken as a typical example of polychromatic partially coherent electromagnetic beams. Based on the unified theory of coherence and polarization, the expressions for the spectrum and the degree of polarization of polychromatic partially coherent EChG beams in the turbulent atmosphere are derived, and the conditions for keeping polarization invariance and for determining the position where the degree of polarization becomes zero along the propagation path are also given. It is shown that the normalized spectrum is close to the normalized source spectrum due to turbulence. The reasonable physical explanation of spectral shift is given. On the other hand, the bandwidth does not affect the degree of polarization, and the degree of polarization tends to the value at the source plane due to turbulence in the long-propagation distance limit. The spectrum and polarization of polychromatic electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model (EGSM) beams and electromagnetic Gaussian (EG) beams in turbulence are treated as special cases of polychromatic partially coherent EChG beams. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.