Remote sensing of atmospheric turbulence and transverse winds from wave-front slope measurements from crossed optical paths

Atmospheric coherence time measurement by four-aperture DIMM defocus velocity technique

In this work, we estimate the atmospheric Fried parameter $ {r_0} $r₀, average wind speed $ \bar v $v¯, and subsequently, atmospheric coherence time $ {\tau _0} $τ₀ by experimental measurement via a four-aperture differential image motion monitor (DIMM) instrument at the Iranian National Observatory (INO) site. The experimental approach is based on the four-aperture DIMM defocus velocity theory, which uses the angle-of-arrival fluctuation measurement of starlight propagation through atmospheric turbulence in the form of a four-spot configuration provided by the four-aperture DIMM telescope. Here, we measure the defocus variance $ \sigma _{{C_4}}^2 $σC₄2 and its velocity variance $ \sigma _{\partial {C_4}/\partial t}^2 $σ∂C₄/∂t2 and use the preceding theory to estimate the atmospheric turbulence parameters. We have implemented the data sampling at the INO site at an altitude of 3600 m above sea level with a 12-inch Meade Cassegrain telescope consisting of a four-aperture mask at its entrance pupil and a fast CCD camera recording short-exposure images with frame rates in the range of 480 fps to 620 fps from the Capella star. The experimental recorded data sets are analyzed and the results compared to those of our simulation and other methods and demonstrate good agreement.

Method for a quantitative investigation of the frozen flow hypothesis

We present a technique to test the frozen flow hypothesis quantitatively, using data from wave-front sensors such as those found in adaptive optics systems. Detailed treatments of the theoretical background of the method and of the error analysis are presented. Analyzing data from the 1.5-m and 3.5-m telescopes at the Starfire Optical Range, we find that the frozen flow hypothesis is an accurate description of the temporal development of atmospheric turbulence on time scales of the order of 1-10 ms but that significant deviations from the frozen flow behavior are present for longer time scales.

Measuring wind speeds and turbulence with a wave-front sensor

We analyze wave-front sensor (WFS) measurements taken with the 1.5-m telescope at the Starfire Optical Range in Albuquerque, N.M., of wind speeds in the turbulent atmospheric layers that cause seeing. The frozen-flow hypothesis suggests that atmospheric turbulence is located in thin horizontal layers and that turbulent features do not change over short time scales but are drawn along by the prevailing wind. Exploiting autocorrelation properties of the WFS data that result from these characteristics of atmospheric turbulence, we are able to measure the movements of individual layers. We also test the validity of the frozen-flow hypothesis.