Abstract

Using a 10-6-µm dual-laser differential-absorption lidar (DIAL) system, we have measured the short term and long term temporal correlation of DIAL returns and have investigated the effect on the measurement error of the time-averaged DIAL returns. Our results have been used to establish the accuracy of DIAL laser remote-sensing measurements and to quantify the improvement expected through use of a dual-laser DIAL system compared with that of a single-laser system. This improvement is shown to be in good agreement with that predicted from a theory which considers the effect of partial temporal correlation due to atmospheric turbulence on DIAL measurement errors.

© 1981 Optical Society of America