Abstract

The target/background signatures of an imaging coherent laser radar are random in nature due to target surface roughness. These signatures must be characterized for proper sensor performance prediction and design optimization. Instead of a coherent reflectometer, a direct-detection reflectometer was constructed for the following reasons. The coherent reflectometer introduces the uncertainty of mixing efficiency between the signal beam and the local oscillator beam; the mean reflectivity of speckle-resolved measurements from a diffuse target is the same as that of speckle-averaged measurements; and by varying the distance between the detector and the target, the signature statistics with different degrees of speckle averaging may be obtained.

© 1983 Optical Society of America