Application of the interference-schlieren method to investigations of the propagation of laser radiation in media with random inhomogeneities

The results are given of the application of the interference-schlieren method to investigations of the characteristics of the optical radiation traveling in a randomly inhomogeneous medium. A simultaneous analysis was made of the amplitude and phase characteristics of the radiation in a medium with a deliberately induced inhomogeneity. The dependences of the statistical characteristics of the signal on the degree of inhomogeneity of the medium and on the beam diameter were obtained experimentally and compared with the theory.