Optical and Laser Remote Sensing

The field of optical and laser remote sensing has grown rapidly in recent years. This dynamic growth has been stimulated not only by technological advances in lasers, detectors, and optical system design, but also by the potential application of remote sensing systems to a wide variety of atmo­ spheric measurements. Optical and laser remote sensing can allow single­ ended measurement capability not offered by conventional point-detection techniques. While many past measurements have been associated with labo­ ratory research. practical systems have recently been developed which are capable of remotely detecting. measuring. and tracking a wide range of molecular and atomic species in the atmosphere with concentrations of parts per billion and at ranges over 100 km. This book is a compilation of papers which represent an overview of the present state of development of optical and laser remote sensing tech­ nology. The subjects covered include both passive and active remote sen­ sing techniques in the UV, visible, and IR spectral regions. related laser and detector technology, and atmospheric propagation and system analysis considerations. While the papers do not constitute an exhaustive treat­ ment of the excellent research being conducted in this field, they are representative of the wide diversity of present efforts. It is hoped that the reader will gain a general understanding of the current research in optical and laser remote sensing as well as an overview of current systems development.

1 IR Differential-Absorption LIDAR (DIAL) Techniques.- 1.1 Airborne Remote Sensing Measurements With a Pulsed CO2 Dial System.- 1.2 Differential-Absorption Measurements With Fixed-Frequency IR and UV Lasers.- 1.3 Remote Sensing of Hydrazine Compounds Using a Dual Mini-TEA CO2 Laser DIAL System.- 1.4 The Hull Coherent DIAL Programme.- 1.5 Remote Measurement of Trace Gases With the JPL Laser Absorption Spectrometer.- 1.6 Laser Remote Sensing Measurements of Atmospheric Species and Natural Target Reflectivities.- 1.7 Airborne CO2 Laser Heterodyne Sensor for Monitoring Regional Ozone Distributions.- 2 Spectrometric Techniques.- 2.1 Tunable Laser Heterodyne Spectrometer Measurements of Atmospheric Species.- 2.2 Interferometric Measurements of Atmospheric Species.- 2.3 Remote Sensing by Infrared Heterodyne Spectroscopy.- 2.4 Detection of Trace Gases Using High-Resolution IR Spectroscopy.- 2.5 Gaseous Correlation Spectrometric Measurements.- 2.6 Measurements of Atmospheric Trace Gases by Long Path Differential UV/Visible Absorption Spectroscopy.- 2.7 Measurements of HONO, NO3, and NO2 by Long-Path Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy in the Los Angeles Basin.- 2.8 Remote Detection of Gases by Gas Correlation Spectroradiometry.- 3 UV-Visible DIAL Techniques.- 3.1 Atmospheric Pressure and Temperature Profiling Using Near IR Differential Absorption Lidar.- 3.2 Ground-Based Ultraviolet Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) System and Measurements.- 3.3 Remote Sensing of Tropospheric Gases and Aerosols With an Airborne DIAL System.- 3.4 Pollution Monitoring Using Nd:YAG Based Lidar Systems.- 4 Atmospheric Propagation and System Analysis.- 4.1 Effects of Atmospheric Obscurants on the Propagation of Optical/IR Radiation.- 4.2 The Effects of Target-Induced Speckle, Atmospheric Turbulence, and Beam Pointing Jitter on the Errors in Remote Sensing Measurements.- 4.3 Lidar System Analysis for Measurement of Atmospheric Species.- 4.4 CO2 DIAL Sensitivity Studies for Measurements of Atmospheric Trace Gases.- 4.5 Signal Averaging Limitations in Heterodyne- and Direct-Detection Laser Remote Sensing Measurements.- 5 UV-Fluorescence Remote Sensing.- 5.1 Rayleigh and Resonance Sounding of the Stratosphere and Mesosphere.- 5.2 High-Resolution Lidar System for Measuring the Spatial and Temporal Structure of the Mesospheric Sodium Layer.- 5.3 Remote Sensing of OH in the Atmosphere Using the Technique of Laser-Induced Fluorescence.- 5.4 Use of the Fraunhofer Line Discriminator (FLD) for Remote Sensing of Materials Stimulated to Luminesce by the Sun.- 5.5 Ozone and Water Vapor Monitoring Using a Ground-Based Lidar System.- 5.6 The NASA/Goddard Balloon Borne Lidar System.- 6 Laser Sources and Detectors.- 6.1 Development of Compact Excimer Lasers for Remote Sensing.- 6.2 Solid-State Laser Sources for Remote Sensing.- 6.3 Progress in Laser Sources for Remote Sensing.- 6.4 Review of NDRE Remote Sensing Program and Development of High Pressure RF Excited CO2 Waveguide Lasers.- 6.5 Progress in Dye and Excimer Laser Sources for Remote Sensing.- 6.6 IR Detectors: Heterodyne and Direct.- 7 Advanced Optical Techniques.- 7.1 Optical Remote Sensing of Environmental Pollution and Danger by Molecular Species Using Low-Loss Optical Fiber Network System.- 7.2 In situ Ultratrace Gas Detection by Photothermal Spectroscopy: An Overview.- 7.3 Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS): A New Spectrochemical Technique.- 7.4 The High Spectral Resolution Lidar.- 8 Lidar Technology.- 8.1 Lidar Measurements of Clouds.- 8.2 Coherent IR Radar Technology.- 8.3 Tactical and Atmospheric Coherent Laser Radar Technology.- 8.4 Atmospheric Remote Sensing Using the NOAA Coherent Lidar System.- 8.5 Coherent CO2 Lidar Systems for Remote Atmospheric Measurements.- 8.6 Wide-Area Air Pollution Measurement by the NIES Large Lidar.- 8.7 ALPHA-1/Alarm Airborne Lidar Systems and Measurements.- Index of Contributors.