Determination of the overlap factor and its enhancement for medium-size tropospheric lidar systems: a ray-tracing approach

Abstract

The problem of overlap factor (OVF) computation and its near-range sensitivity for medium-size aperture (f/10 , f/11 ) bi-axial tropospheric lidar systems using ray-tracing simulation software is presented. The method revisits both detector and fiber optics coupling alternatives at the telescope focal-plane along with the insertion of a field lens. A sensitivity analysis is carried out as a function of laser divergence, field lens, and detector/fiber positions, detector size, and the fiber’s core diameter and numerical aperture. The ray-tracing approach presented here is straightforward and a comparatively much simpler solution than analytical-based methods. Parametric simulations are carried out to show that both approaches are coincident. Insertion of a field lens proves to be an elegant and low sensitivity solution for OVF enhancement, particularly, in the near-range of the lidar.