Design of A Low Cost Diode-Laser-Based High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL)

A concept for an eye-safe, semiconductor-based high spectral resolution lidar has been developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The lidar operates at a wavelength of 780 nm near several rubidium absorption peaks. A rubidium vapor cell is used to block aerosol backscatter in one channel to provide a molecular backscatter measurement for calculating extinction and backscatter ratio (calibrated backscatter). Laser and optical components around 780 nm are widely developed due to the large growth in atomic cooling and trapping of rubidium. Thus this instrument can be built largely using mature commercial-off-the-shelf parts. The simulation of the conceptual design shown here uses known commercial products and suggests that such an instrument could be used for quantitative profiling of the lower troposphere.