In some embodiments, an optical communication system may include an optical source, a modulator, and a photoreceiver. The optical source may be configured to generate a beam comprising a series of light pulses. The photoreceiver may have a detection window duration of 1 nanosecond or less. When a first pulse travels through a variably refractive medium, photons in the first pulse may be refracted to travel along different ray paths to arrive at the photoreceiver according to a temporal distribution curve. A full width at half maximum (FWHM) value of the temporal distribution curve may be greater than a coherence time value of the first pulse, and the detection window of the photoreceiver may be greater than the FWHM value of the temporal distribution curve.