Abstract

As a beam of light propagates through the atmosphere, scattering by aerosol particles causes the beam profile to broaden. The profile of the beam as a function of range depends primarily on the aerosol phase function and the local scattering or extinction coefficient. A multi-field-of-view (MFOV) lidar has been developed¹ which makes simultaneous measurements of the power directly backscattered from the central beam and multiscattered signals arising from the broadened part of the beam.

© 1991 Optical Society of America