Design and simulation of a biconic multipass absorption cell for the frequency stabilization of the reference seeder laser in IPDA lidar.

The design process and simulation method of a multipass absorption cell used for the frequency stabilization of the reference seeder laser in integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar are presented. On the basis of the fundamental theory of the Herriott multipass cell comprising two spherical mirrors, the initial parameters of the multipass cell, which has an optical path greater than 10 m and consists of two biconic mirrors, were calculated. More than 30 light spots were distributed on each mirror, and the distance between adjacent spots was mostly optimized to greater than six times the beam waist. After optimization, the simulated transmittance spectrum and associated differential signal were obtained. The interference induced by surface scattering was also simulated, and its influence on the differential signal was analyzed. A correspondence between the simulated results and the testing data was observed.