On-line wavelength calibration of pulsed laser for CO2 DIAL sensing

Abstract

Accurate on-line wavelength calibration is a crucial procedure for sensing atmospheric CO2 using the DIAL technique. Drastic fluctuations in the intensity of a pulsed laser pose a great challenge for accurate on-line wavelength determination and stabilization, resulting in CO2 retrievals lacking the desired accuracy for global climate change and carbon cycle research. To tackle this problem, a two-stage wavelength calibration method based on Voigt fitting was proposed in this work. Simulation analysis demonstrated that the proposed method is superior to the conventional method and provides wavelength calibration results with an accuracy of 0.1 pm when the noise level does not exceed than 5 %. This conclusion was confirmed through experiments with real signals. Furthermore, simulation analysis revealed that the proposed method could yield results with an accuracy of 0.1 pm by increasing the number of sample points, even for signals with noise levels of up to 20 %. This is a promising feature that could facilitate the development of DIAL systems without gas cells.