Resolution of adaptive optical systems through the atmosphere

The results of a theoretical investigation on the resolving power of an adaptive laser system, that corrects phase and amplitude fluctuations of a laser beam propagated through the atmospheric turbulence, are presented. Bothe cases of long and short exposures are investigated. Numerical evaluations are made in a number of practical cases. The results show that, in the considered cases, amplitude fluctuations play a practically negligible role, as expected. The main result is that even a partial correction of the phase fluctuations can be sufficient to change the behaviour of the resolving power as a function of the diameter from a saturating to an increasing function.