Abstract

The use of a pulsed, coherent-detection LIDAR for the remote sensing of atmospheric species is of current interest. Coherent (heterodyne)- detection offers significant advantages, in principle, over direct-detection in expected carrier-to-noise ratios and detection ranges. However, attempts to achieve these predicted advantages have been limited by a variety of experimental problems. This paper will discuss some of these problems, including laser tunability, speckle effects, and tracking of the local oscillator frequency.

© 1985 Optical Society of America