Theory 019/Optics & Photonics
Interferometry Reads the Air
The claim
Interferometric measurement error is set by the correlation length of air turbulence rather than by its magnitude, so strong but fine-grained turbulence can matter less than weak and coarse.
01The mechanism
The beam averages over turbulence; features larger than the beam path are not averaged out.
02Predictions
- P1Error should track correlation length.
- P2Fine turbulence should average out.
03Refutation
Error tracking turbulence magnitude would remove the scale dependence.