Signal-to-noise ratio dominates turbulence resistance in laser reflective tomography

As an active imaging technique, laser reflective tomography (LRT) achieves resolution independent of system aperture and operating distance while exhibiting exceptional resistance to atmospheric turbulence. This capability enables long-range super-diffraction imaging, granting LRT significant application value in fields such as space debris detection and small drone monitoring. Nevertheless, there remains a lack of in-depth, quantitative research clarifying LRT's specific imaging performance under varying turbulence conditions or identifying the key factors governing its turbulence-resistant efficacy. This study investigates LRT's imaging performance in turbulent environments through simulation analysis. The results demonstrate that among multiple influencing factors, variations in turbulence strength exert a negligible impact on imaging quality. In contrast, system noise emerges as the primary limiting factor for imaging quality. These findings indicate that enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is crucial for achieving turbulence-resistant LRT imaging.