ABSTRACT
The field then propagates freely according to Maxwell’s equations and exhibits a range of diffraction, interference, and geometrical optics effects that depend on the properties of the random phase variable, . In practice, of course, phase fluctuations will not be introduced into an incident wave at a single plane as in the idealization Equation 5.1 but over a region of finite thickness, albeit much thinner than the ensuing free propagation path. However, in many situations of interest the amplitude fluctuations that will be necessarily present after propagation through a refractive layer of finite thickness will be small so that Equation 5.1 will provide a good model for the scattering.
