Direct-detection wind lidar operating with a multimode laser

A direct-detection wind lidar that operates with a multimode laser has been developed and tested. The instrument exploits the light backscattered by particles using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with an optical path difference matched to the free spectral range of the laser longitudinal modes. In ad...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied optics (2004) 2013-07, Vol.52 (20), p.4941-4949
Main Authors: Bruneau, Didier, Blouzon, Frédéric, Spatazza, Joseph, Montmessin, Franck, Pelon, Jacques, Faure, Benoît
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Physics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A direct-detection wind lidar that operates with a multimode laser has been developed and tested. The instrument exploits the light backscattered by particles using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with an optical path difference matched to the free spectral range of the laser longitudinal modes. In addition to requiring no monomodal emission, the system requires no frequency locking between the interferometer and the laser. We report laboratory and atmospheric measurements that show that the lidar is capable of measuring the radial wind velocity with a systematic error lower than 1 ms(-1) and a random error lower than 2 ms(-1) for a signal-to-noise ratio of 100. The development is motivated by the possibility to probe wind with a compact system in planetary atmospheres.
ISSN:1559-128X
2155-3165
DOI:10.1364/AO.52.004941