TURBULENCE NOISE IN INFRARED LIDAR SENSING

An analytical description of the laser location (lidar) systems for in vestigation of two-dimensional distributions of the scattering propert ies of aerosol fields (natural or anthropogenic) in the infrared range has been made on the basis of the heuristic concept for the influence of the atmospheric turbulence (AT) on the transverse spatial structur e of optical radiation. Explicit results for the stratifications of th e coherency radii, the dispersion and contrast of the transverse spati al fluctuations of the intensity, the averaging action of the aperture s of matrix photodetector elements on the corresponding radiant fluxes ' turbulent fluctuations and the ''signal-to-turbulence-noise'' ratio have been derived.