C. S. Gardner (cgardner@uillinois.edu) is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801-2307.
Chester S. Gardner, "Performance capabilities of middle-atmosphere temperature lidars: comparison of Na, Fe, K, Ca, Ca+, and Rayleigh systems," Appl. Opt. 43, 4941-4956 (2004)
The measurement accuracies of modern resonance fluorescence and Rayleigh temperature lidars are limited primarily by photon noise. The narrowband three-frequency fluorescence technique is shown to perform within a few decibels of the theoretical optimum at night for both temperature and wind observations. These systems also exhibit good performance during the day because the fluorescence wavelengths of Na, Fe, K, Ca, and Ca+ all correspond to strong solar Fraunhofer lines, where sky brightness is attenuated by a factor of 5 or more. Whereas Na systems achieve the highest signal-to-noise ratios for mesopause region observations (80–105 km), the three-frequency Fe system is attractive because it performs well as both a fluorescence and a Rayleigh lidar throughout the middle atmosphere at approximately 25–110 km.
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Three-frequency laser technique.
Relations (A11) and (A12) of Appendix A with αscan = 6 and Δfscan = 6σD ≈ 6σλ.
Not applicable.
Infinite spectral resolution receiver technique.
Assuming equal laser power at 372 and 374 nm and that total laser power is double that for the three-frequency technique.
Table 4
Temperature and Wind Errors for Three-Frequency Fe Lidars at T = 200 K
Zenith viewing at sea level, solar zenith angle 45°, excellent visibility.
Includes 5% Ring effect for all lines.
Full width at twice depth.
Receiver bandwidth much smaller than Fraunhofer linewidth.
Not applicable.
Three-frequency laser technique.
Relations (A11) and (A12) of Appendix A with αscan = 6 and Δfscan = 6σD ≈ 6σλ.
Not applicable.
Infinite spectral resolution receiver technique.
Assuming equal laser power at 372 and 374 nm and that total laser power is double that for the three-frequency technique.
Table 4
Temperature and Wind Errors for Three-Frequency Fe Lidars at T = 200 K
Zenith viewing at sea level, solar zenith angle 45°, excellent visibility.
Includes 5% Ring effect for all lines.
Full width at twice depth.
Receiver bandwidth much smaller than Fraunhofer linewidth.
Not applicable.