Laser Radar Performance and Improved Beam Alignment

提出了计算真实单站激光雷达系统相干激光功率统计的研究，包括折射率湍流和探测器几何形状的影响。在大气边界层中工作的理想激光雷达系统，将计算其平均相干激光功率的解析表达式，以确定系统的性能。将考虑各种探测器的几何形状来研究探测器阵列的性能，并验证基于折射湍流效应的光束对准方法优于现有方法的假设。本文将利用理想系统的解析技术和实际系统的数值模拟来确定具有折射率湍流的单静系统的对准约束。模拟还将产生真实激光雷达信号波动的准确统计描述。将研究激光雷达性能的不同物理机制，并确定简单分析结果有效的区域。计算将强调固态激光雷达系统的短波长。这项研究将有助于设计下一代用于大气遥感的固态激光雷达。

Research is proposed to calculate the statistics of the coherent lidar power for a real monostatic lidar system, including the effects of refractive turbulence and detector geometry. Analytic expressions for the average coherent lidar power for an idealized lidar system operating in the atmospheric boundary layer will be calculated to determine system performance. Various detector geometries will be considered to investigate the performance of detector arrays and to test the hypothesis that beam alignment methods based on the effects of refractive turbulence are superior to present methods. The alignment constraints for a monostatic system with refractive turbulence will be determined using analytic techniques for idealized systems and numerical simulations for real systems. The simulations will also produce an accurate statistical description of real laser radar signal fluctuations. The different physical mechanisms of laser radar performance will be investigated and the regime where simple analytic results are valid will be determined. The calculations will emphasize the shorter wavelengths of solid state lidar systems. This research will help design the next generation of solid state lidars for remote sensing of the atmosphere.