General Theory of Light Propagation and Imaging Through the Atmosphere

Introduction.- Terms, Definitions and Theoretical foundations.- Diffraction.- Wave propagation after scattering by a thin atmospheric layer.- Wave propagation over extended atmospheric paths.- Properties of point-object im ages formed by telescopes.- Properties of point-object im ages formed by telescopes.- Average intensity envelopes of unresolved star images.- Core and halo structure in star images formed by large telescopes.- Statistical properties of stellar speckle patterns.- Star image appear ance for small and large average turbulence structure sizes.- Approximate intensity envelopes for star images formed by telescopes with/without AO.- Telescope optical tolerances and telescope resolution.- Laboratory simulation of im ages formed by large telescopes.- Laser beam propagation and atmospheric path characterization.- Atmospheric isoplanatic angle: Image stabilization and AO image correction.