Abstract

Recently, significant advances have been made in the development of new solid-state Lidar and DIAL systems that operate in the 1 to 2 μm wavelength range. These Lidar/DIAL developments encompass Coherent Heterodyne-detection Doppler Lidar, tunable direct-detection DIAL, Multi-element detector array Lidar sensors, and active laser illuminators for passive focal-plane array IR sensors. The development of these Lidar and DIAL systems is being led by advances in new laser sources, optical detectors, and new optical detection technology. This talk will review some of the recent progress in the following Lidar/DIAL technology areas and speculate on some potential areas of future growth in this field.

© 1991 Optical Society of America