Analysis of Transmission Depth and Photon Number in Monte Carlo Simulation for Underwater Laser Transmission

The modeling of laser transmission characteristics in complex seawater is fundamental for bathymetric and oceanographic laser detection systems. Because the factors affecting laser transmission in seawater are independent of one another, firstly, in this paper, a Monte Carlo model of laser propagation in seawaters with suspended matter was established to study the influence of suspended matter with specific radius on the underwater laser transmission. Secondly, the influence of transmission depth and the number of photons on the laser extinction coefficients of seawater containing different concentrations of suspended matter were analyzed, respectively. Thirdly, the relationships between maximum transmission depth, the number of initial photons, and the concentrations were built and verified by simulations. Lastly, an experimental platform was set up and experiments were carried out to verify the Monte Carlo model and the relationships. Results show that (1) both the minimum initial photon number and maximum transmission depth depend exponentially on the concentrations of the suspended matter; (2) the extinction coefficients obtained by the Monte Carlo model and those obtained by experiments are consistent. The absolute values of the differences are less than 0.028 m⁻¹, implying that (1) the proposed Monte Carlo model is effective for simulating laser propagation in seawaters with suspended matter; (2) the established relationships between maximum transmission depth, the minimum initial photon number, and the concentrations of suspended matter have better accuracies, which are valuable for the simulations on attenuation of laser transmission in seawater. The method of this paper can also be extended to the study of suspended solids with other radii and improve the simulation accuracy and decrease simulation time consumption.