Abstract

Vertical profiles of aerosol and atmospheric properties are of considerable importance to atmospheric studies. Rayleigh-Mie scattering which contains the necessary information can be used to measure aerosol and atmospheric parameters if Rayleigh (molecular) and Mie (aerosol) scattering components can be effectively separated (She, 1990). In 1983, we suggested (Shimizu et al., 1983) that the use of a narrowband lidar system along with atomic resonance blocking filters has the sensitivity needed for a simultaneous measurement of backscatter ratio and atmospheric temperature. We have since developed a barium vapor filter with variable bandwidth and demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed scheme in a laboratory experiment with a single-frequency cw dye laser (Lehmann et al., 1986).

© 1991 Optical Society of America