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arXiv:2509.10171

Evolution of moments in atmospheric scintillation

Filippus Stefanus Roux

Published Sep 12, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

Evolution equations for the moments of a photonic quantum state propagating through atmospheric turbulence are derived. These evolution equations are obtain from an evolution equation for the characteristic functional of the state, incorporating all spatiotemporal degrees of freedom. The measured quantities, such as the intensity or photon distribution, of the evolving state can be expressed in terms of such moments without having to know the exact final state. The case of an initial coherent state is considered as an example.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2509.10171

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Evolution equations for the moments of a photonic quantum state propagating through atmospheric turbulence are derived. These evolution equations are obtain from an evolution equation for the characteristic functional of the state, incorporating all spatiotemporal degrees of freedom. The measured quantities, such as the intensity or photon distribution, of the evolving state can be expressed in terms of such moments without having to know the exact final state. The case of an initial coherent state is considered as an example.
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Abstract The evolution of the spatial degrees of freedom of a photon propagating through atmospheric turbulence is treated as a non-Markovian process. Here, we derive and solve the evolution equation for this process. The turbulent medium is modeled by a sequence of multiple phase screens for general turbulence conditions. The non-Markovian perspective leads to a second-order differential equation with respect to the propagation distance. The solution for this differential equation is obtained with the aid of a perturbative analysis, assuming the turbulence is relatively weak. We also provide another solution for more general turbulence strengths, but where we introduce a simplification to the differential equation.
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The entangled quantum state of a photon pair propagating through atmospheric turbulence suffers decay of entanglement due to the scintillation it experiences. In this paper, we investigate the robustness against this decay for different qutrit states. An infinitesimal propagation equation is used to obtain the density matrix as a function of the propagation distance and the tangle is used to quantify the entanglement between a pair of qutrits. We consider the evolution of various initial states as they propagate through turbulence. Using optimization of the parameters that define the initial state, we obtain expressions for bipartite qutrit states that retain their initial entanglement longer than the initially maximally entangled states.
Abstract The recently developed Wigner functional theory is used to formulate an evolution equation for arbitrary multi-photon states, propagating through a turbulent atmosphere under arbitrary conditions. The resulting evolution equation, which is obtained from an infinitesimal propagation approach, is in the form of a Fokker–Planck equation for the Wigner functional of the state and therefore incorporates functional derivatives. We show consistency with previously obtained solutions from different approaches and consider possible ways to find additional solutions for this equation.