Experimental comparison of scintillation effects in far and near infrared wavelengths in FSO systems

This work reports an experimental comparison of the scintillation effects in three infrared wavelengths (780 nm, 1550 nm and 9.1 /spl mu/m). A short path link to avoid saturation effects was used in this experiment in a 800 m-high mountain top inside Rio de Janeiro. The 9.1 /spl mu/m wavelength presented an order of magnitude less sensitivity to scintillation effects than the near IR wavelengths under the same turbulence conditions, in agreement with theoretical predictions.