Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 651-657, 2014. Available online at www.jafmonline.net, ISSN 1735-3572, EISSN 1735-3645. DOI: 10.36884/jafm.7.04.21420 Applications of 2-D Moiré Deflectometry to Atmospheric Turbulence S. Rasouli1, 2†, M. D. Niry1, Y. Rajabi1, A. A. Panahi1 and J. J. Niemela3 1 Department of Physics, Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Zanjan 45137-66731, Iran 2 Optics Research Center, Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Zanjan 45137-66731, Iran 3The Abdus Salam ICTP, Strada Costiera 11, 34151 Trieste, Italy †Corresponding Author Email:
[email protected] (Received August 23, 2013; accepted December 1, 2013) ABSTRACT We report on applications of a moiré deflectometry to observations of anisotropy in the statistical properties of atmospheric turbulence. Specifically, combining the use of a telescope with moiré deflectometry allows enhanced sensitivity to fluctuations in the wave-front phase, which reflect fluctuations in the fluid density. Such phase fluctuations in the aperture of the telescope are imaged on the first grating of the moiré deflectometer, giving high spatial resolution. In particular, we have measured the covariance of the angle of arrival (AA) between pairs of points displaced spatially on the telescope aperture which allows a quantitative measure of anisotropy in the atmospheric surface layer. Importantly, the telescope-based moiré deflectometry measures directly in the spatial domain and, besides being a non-intrusive method for studying turbulent flows, has the advantage of being relatively simple and inexpensive. Keywords: Boundary layers: turbulence; Electromagnetic waves: atmospheric propagation; Turbulence: atmospheric; Diffraction gratings: optical; Interferometers.