ANALYSIS OF LIDAR SYSTEMS FOR PROFILING AURORALLY EXCITED MOLECULAR-SPECIES

Citation
Rl. Collins et al., ANALYSIS OF LIDAR SYSTEMS FOR PROFILING AURORALLY EXCITED MOLECULAR-SPECIES, Applied optics, 36(24), 1997, pp. 6024-6034
Citations number
26
Categorie Soggetti
Optics
Journal title
ISSN journal
00036935
Volume
36
Issue
24
Year of publication
1997
Pages
6024 - 6034
Database
ISI
SICI code
0003-6935(1997)36:24<6024:AOLSFP>2.0.ZU;2-S
Abstract
We report a detailed analysis of lidar systems that profile aurorally excited molecular species in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphe re (similar to 80-300 km). Current profiling of this region is perform ed with incoherent scatter radars that determine the total electron an d ion concentrations but not the individual species. Studies of the ae ronomy of the thermosphere requires knowledge of the species present a nd their relative populations in the different vibrational and rotatio nal states. We review the spectroscopy of nitrogen to determine an opt imized Lidar system. We combine these results with current auroral obs ervations and models to determine the performance of an actual lidar s ystem. The study shows that such systems can provide high-resolution ( 1 km, 100 s) measurements of these species with current laser technolo gy. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.