Pulse propagation in particulate medium

The transmission of laser pulses through a particulate medium is investigated. Our approach is based on the propagation equation for a two-frequency mutual coherence function in a plane-wave limit. The integro-differential equation satisfied by the incoherent part of the coherence function is solved by the eigenvector-eigenvalue method. By explicitly employing the cylindrical symmetry conditions, we arrive at an efficient way of integrating numerically the integro-differential equation. An approximation, analogous to Glauber's approximation in quantum collision theory, is derived. This results in a very simple algorithm, which enables one to predict correctly the pulse broadening. Numerical results pertinent to propagation in radiational fog are presented.