Abstract

We present a novel method for combining the analog and photon-counting measurements of lidar transient recorders into reconstructed photon returns. The method takes into account the statistical properties of the two measurement modes and estimates the most likely number of arriving photons and the most likely values of acquisition parameters describing the two measurement modes. It extends and improves the standard combining (“gluing”) methods and does not rely on any ad hoc definitions of the overlap region nor on any background subtraction methods.

© 2012 Optical Society of America

Slope characterization in combining analog and photon count data from atmospheric lidar measurements

Yunpeng Zhang, Fan Yi, Wei Kong, and Yang Yi
Appl. Opt. 53(31) 7312-7320 (2014)

Simultaneous analog and photon counting detection for Raman lidar

Rob K. Newsom, David D. Turner, Bernd Mielke, Marian Clayton, Richard Ferrare, and Chitra Sivaraman
Appl. Opt. 48(20) 3903-3914 (2009)

Maximum-likelihood estimation of a laser system pointing parameters by use of return photon counts

Deva K. Borah, David Voelz, and Santasri Basu
Appl. Opt. 45(11) 2504-2509 (2006)

Gluing for Raman lidar systems using the lamp mapping technique

Monique Walker, Demetrius Venable, and David N. Whiteman
Appl. Opt. 53(36) 8535-8543 (2014)

Maximum-likelihood estimation for frequency-modulated continuous-wave laser ranging using photon-counting detectors

Baris I. Erkmen, Zeb W. Barber, and Jason Dahl
Appl. Opt. 52(10) 2008-2018 (2013)