Two-dimensional simulation of optical wave propagation through atmospheric turbulence.

A methodology for the two-dimensional simulation of optical wave propagation through atmospheric turbulence is presented. The derivations of common statistical field moments in two dimensions, required for performing and validating simulations, are presented and compared with their traditional three-dimensional counterparts. Wave optics simulations are performed to validate the two-dimensional moments and to demonstrate the utility of performing two-dimensional wave optics simulations so that the results may be scaled to those of computationally prohibitive 3D scenarios. Discussions of the benefits and limitations of two-dimensional atmospheric turbulence simulations are provided throughout.