Browell E V, Wilkerson T D, McIlrath T J
Appl Opt. 1979 Oct 15;18(20):3474-83. doi: 10.1364/AO.18.003474.
A ground-based differential absorption lidar (DIAL) system is described which has been developed for vertical range-resolved measurements of water vapor. The laser transmitter consists of a ruby-pumped dye laser, which is operated on a water vapor absorption line at 724.372 nm. Part of the ruby laser output is transmitted simultaneously with the dye laser output to determine atmospheric scattering and attenuation characteristics. The dye and ruby laser backscattered light is collected by a 0.5-m diam telescope, optically separated in the receiver package, and independently detected using photomultiplier tubes. Measurements of vertical water vapor concentration profiles using the DIAL system at night are discussed, and comparisons are made between the water vapor DIAL measurements and data obtained from locally launched rawinsondes. Agreement between these measurements was found to be within the uncertainty of the rawinsonde data to an altitude of 3 km. Theoretical simulations of this measurement were found to give reasonably accurate predictions of the random error of the DIAL measurements. Confidence in these calculations will permit the design of aircraft and Shuttle DIAL systems and experiments using simulation results as the basis for defining lidar system performance requirements.
描述了一种用于垂直距离分辨水汽测量的地基差分吸收激光雷达（DIAL）系统。激光发射器由一台红宝石泵浦染料激光器组成，该激光器在724.372nm的水汽吸收线上运行。红宝石激光输出的一部分与染料激光输出同时发射，以确定大气散射和衰减特性。染料激光和红宝石激光的后向散射光由一台直径0.5米的望远镜收集，在接收器组件中进行光学分离，并使用光电倍增管独立检测。讨论了夜间使用DIAL系统测量垂直水汽浓度剖面的情况，并将水汽DIAL测量结果与本地发射的无线电探空仪获得的数据进行了比较。发现这些测量结果之间的一致性在无线电探空仪数据到3公里高度的不确定性范围内。发现该测量的理论模拟能够对DIAL测量的随机误差给出合理准确的预测。对这些计算的信心将允许设计飞机和航天飞机DIAL系统，并以模拟结果为基础定义激光雷达系统性能要求来进行实验。
