Abstract

A CO₂ lidar system using a tunable CO₂ TEA laser has been developed to measure aerosol backscatter and atmospheric transmittance in the 8-12μm window region. The system operates at 1 Hz with a pulse energy of several joules when operated in the line-tuned mode. The transmitter and receiver are coaxial and a large plane mirror placed in front of the receiver is used to scan the beams in elevation, allowing slant path returns to be acquired. A photoconductive HgCdTe detector is used in the direct detection mode restricting the operating range of the system to the mixing layer, where aerosol concentrations are high.

© 1985 Optical Society of America