Temporal broadening of optical pulses propagating through non-Kolmogorov turbulence

General formulations of the temporal averaged pulse intensity for optical pulses propagating through either non-Kolmogorov or Kolmogorov turbulence are deduced under the strong fluctuation conditions and the narrow-band assumption. Based on these formulations, an analytical formula for the turbulence-induced temporal half-width of spherical-wave Gaussian (SWG) pulses is derived, and the single-point, two-frequency mutual coherence function (MCF) of collimated Gaussian-beam waves in atmospheric turbulence is formulated analytically, by which the temporal averaged pulse intensity of collimated space-time Gaussian (CSTG) pulses can be calculated numerically. Calculation results show that the temporal broadening of both SWG and CSTG pulses in atmospheric turbulence depends heavily on the general spectral index of the spatial power spectrum of refractive-index fluctuations, and the temporal broadening of SWG pulses can be used to approximate that of CSTG pulses on the axis with the same turbulence parameters and propagation distances. It is also illustrated by numerical calculations that the variation in the turbulence-induced temporal half-width of CSTG pulses with the radial distance is really tiny.