Measuring significant inhomogeneity and anisotropy in indoor convective air turbulence in the presence of 2D temperature gradient

Using a novel set up, experimental study of the statistical properties of a light beam propagating horizontally through indoor convective air turbulence in the presence of a 2D temperature gradient (TG) is presented. A laser beam enters a telescope from its back focal point by virtue of an optical fiber and is expanded and recollimated by it and then passes through the turbulent area. Then the beam enters another telescope's aperture. A mask consisting of four similar widely separated small subapertures was installed in front of the second telescope's aperture. The subapertures were equidistant from the optical axis of the telescope and located at the corners of a square. A flat plane heater is used to produce a vertical TG in the medium. Due to the limited width of the heater, a horizontal component for the TG appeared. Near the focal plane of the second telescope, four distinct images of the source are formed and recorded by a CCD camera. Due to the turbulence all the images (spots) in the successive frames fluctuate. Using the four spot displacements we have calculated the fluctuations of the angle of arrival (AA) over the subapertures. The statistical properties of the optical turbulence are investigated using variance analysis of the AA component fluctuations at horizontal and vertical directions over the subapertures for different temperatures of the heater at different heights of the beam path from the heater. Experimental results show that when the heater is turned off, the variances of horizontal and vertical components of the AA fluctuations are approximately equal to zero over all the subapertures. When it is turned on, the variance of the horizontal component of the AA fluctuations over all of the subapertures are larger than those from the vertical one. In addition, in this case, we find a significant dependence of the variance of the AA components on the height from the heater. (paper)