Turbulence characterization and image processing data sets from a NATO RTO SET 165 trial in Dayton, Ohio, USA

The performance of optical systems is degraded by atmospheric turbulence. Over propagation distances that exceed several kilometers, it is difficult to evaluate its impact because of terrain variability - a factor that should be taken into account. However, to optimize performance, the turbulence characteristics and its effect on optical wave propagation along the propagation path should be known. The understanding of turbulence impact is one of the main objectives of the NATO group SET 165: "Adaptive Optics (AO) for laser beam delivery, passive and active imaging and turbulence mitigation". In this paper we describe experiments performed by the NATO SET 165 research group, namely, a set of atmospheric experiments over a 7 km distance, and discuss some preliminary results of data processing. The experiments were conducted at the University of Dayton Intelligent Optics Laboratory (UD/IOL) in October 2011. It benefited significantly from the available optical setups and the infrastructure on the UD/IOL site.