Improved calibration method for depolarization lidar measurement.

An improved calibration method for lidar depolarization measurement is described. With this method the system constants including the electronic gain ratio of the parallel and perpendicular channels, the optical reflectance and transmission parameters of the polarizing beam splitter, and the linear polarization ratio of the emitting laser beam can be determined conveniently by using lidar measurements with a half-wave plate oriented at selected angles.