Abstract
A moving scattering target used as a transfer standard allows absolute calibration of the response of a cw Doppler lidar to an atmospheric target. The lidar in this study operated at a 10.6-μm wavelength. Consideration of the distribution of radiant energy density near the focus of the lidar transceiver permits measurement of a backscatter coefficient from a distributed array of scatterers, such as atmospheric aerosols, based on the diffuse reflectance of the surface of the transfer standard. The minimum detectable signal for our system with a 5-sec averaging time corresponds to a backscatter coefficient of 2.4 × 10−12 m−1 sr−1 ± 2.5 dB, which is ~9 dB greater than the theoretical threshold. Calibration shows that the lidar response is 5 ± 1 dB less than the ideal limit for signal powers well above the minimum detectable signal.
© 1980 Optical Society of America
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