Statistical analysis of random pulse trains

Some experimental and theoretical results concerning the statistical properties of optical beams formed by a finite number of independent pulses are presented. The considered waves (corresponding to each pulse) present important spatial variations of the illumination distribution in a cross-section of the beam, due to the time-varying random refractive index distribution in the active medium. Some examples of this kind of emission are: (a) Free-running ruby laser emission; (b) Mode-locked pulse trains; (c) Randomly excited nonlinear media