Rytov number

The Rytov number is a fundamental scaling parameter for laser propagation through atmospheric turbulence.^[1] Rytov numbers greater than 0.2 are generally considered to be strong scintillation.^[2] A Rytov number of 0 would indicate no turbulence, thus no scintillation of the beam.

References

^ Ghalaii, M.; Pirandola, S. (2022). "Quantum communications in a moderate-to-strong turbulent space". Communications Physics. 5 (38). Nature Portfolio. arXiv:2107.12415. doi:10.1038/s42005-022-00814-5. Retrieved 3 June 2025. Physically, the Rytov number, or Rytov variance, is a measure of the strength of light scintillations—fluctuations in received irradiance, or in the phase and amplitude of the light, resulting from propagation through a turbulent space.
^ Fan, Chengyu; Wang, Yingjian; Gong, Zhiben (5 September 2002). "Evaluation of the performance of an adaptive optics system in strong scintillation". Proceedings of SPIE. 4926. doi:10.1117/12.481669. Retrieved 3 June 2025.

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[1] Ghalaii, M.; Pirandola, S. (2022). "Quantum communications in a moderate-to-strong turbulent space". Communications Physics. 5 (38). Nature Portfolio. arXiv:2107.12415. doi:10.1038/s42005-022-00814-5. Retrieved 3 June 2025. Physically, the Rytov number, or Rytov variance, is a measure of the strength of light scintillations—fluctuations in received irradiance, or in the phase and amplitude of the light, resulting from propagation through a turbulent space.

[2] Fan, Chengyu; Wang, Yingjian; Gong, Zhiben (5 September 2002). "Evaluation of the performance of an adaptive optics system in strong scintillation". Proceedings of SPIE. 4926. doi:10.1117/12.481669. Retrieved 3 June 2025.

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