General problems in atmospheric light propagation

The aim of this paper is to point out the state of the art of the research on light propagation in the atmosphere, a field in which more than one hundred groups all over the world are interested. The invention of the laser has open the possibility of obtaining communication links at optical frequencies and consequently the need of studying the effect of turbulence on the link. The possibility of using a laser radar (lidar) requires to investigate the interaction light-atmosphere in order to derive information on the atmosphere itself. Separate sections are devoted to turbulence effects and to aerosol effects. The effects of non linear propagation, arising when high power laser beams are propagating are also summarized. A list of 79 references includes all available literature .