Translator's preface

Author's Preface

Part I: Ray Theory

I. Statistical Characteristics of the Medium

II.. Ray Statistics

Part II: Diffraction Theory

III. The Wave Equation

IV. Scattering by Inhomogeneities

V. Fluctuations

VI. Correlation of Fluctuations

Part III: The Influence of Fluctuation on the Diffraction Image of a Focusing System

Introductory Remarks

VII. General Formulas

VIII. The Mean Distribution Near the Focus

IX. Fluctuations Behind the Lens

Appendix I.

Appendix II.

References

This monograph by a prominent Russian expert was a ground-breaking contribution to the literature on the theory of wave propagation in randomly inhomogeneous media. Since the publication of the first English translation in 1960, the systematic treatment has been widely used by scientists, engineers, and advanced undergraduate students in such fields as acoustics, radio-wave physics, and optics.
The three-part treatment begins with a study of the problem of wave propagation using the ray approximation, followed by the second part's examination of the diffraction theory of wave propagation. The final part explores the question of how fluctuations in the incident wave affect the diffraction image formed by a focusing system, a question of considerable interest in hydroacoustics and astronomical optics. Some of the theoretical deductions are compared with experimental data, and two appendixes contain more elaborate calculations. This edition serves as a companion volume to Wave Propagation in a Turbulent Medium, also available from Dover Publications.
Dover (2017) republication of the edition originally published by McGraw-Hill, New York, 1960.
www.doverpublications.com

Lev Aleksandrovich Chernov (1911?81) was on the faculty of the Yaroslavl Pedagogical Institute (now the Yaroslavl Demidov State University) in Yaroslavl, Russia, from 1940?58. He was afterward affiliated with the Acoustics Institute of Moscow.