Abstract

Active and in situ monitoring of atmospheric species is a relatively young technique and its utilization is very much constrained by the state of laser development. Laser measurements of atmospheric species involve interactions between coherent electromagnetic radiation and atmospheric gases and aerosols; consequently the laser requirements for wavelength control, spectral bandwidth, repetition rate, pulse duration, and energy per pulse are unique to (1) the species being measured, (2) the location from which the measurement is made, (3) the altitude being probed, and (4) in some instances, the time of day the measurement is made. Measurements of atomic and molecular gases in the atmosphere require tunable narrow spectral bandwidth laser sources capable of operation at multiple wavelengths because, ideally, one needs to measure a chemically coupled set of species simultaneously.

© 1983 Optical Society of America