Beam wander of electromagnetic Gaussian-Schell model beams propagating in atmospheric turbulence.

The general model of beam wander for a coherent Gaussian beam propagating through atmospheric turbulence is extended to the case of a partially polarized electromagnetic Gaussian-Schell model (EGSM) beam. The expression of the beam wander is obtained by characterizing the EGSM beam with the effective beam parameters. The effects of initial spatially coherent lengths, degree of polarization, and phase curvature are examined in detail. A condition is derived under which beams with different spatial coherence and degrees of polarization will generate the same beam wander.