A Bistatic Lidar for Aerosol Studies

Abstract

A bistatic, continuous wave lidar system has been developed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune for the purpose of monitoring aerosol characteristics at the place. The system employs a Lexel Model 95–4, 4-Watt Ar+ laser/Spectra-Physics Model 159, 5 Milliwatt He-Ne laser as the transmitter and a 25 cm Newtonian telescope and associated light/electronic measuring equipment as the receiver. A description of the experimental set-up is presented. The procedure for extracting aerosol information from the received scattered laser return signals is outlined.