In response to a community-identified need for ground-based thermodynamic (TD) profiling of the troposphere, we present the further development and validation of a differential absorption LiDAR (DIAL) technique to retrieve temperature. This paper showcases the accuracy of temperature retrievals using a perturbative technique, combining a DIAL measurement of a temperature-sensitive oxygen (O2) absorption profile with a high spectral resolution LiDAR measurement of the backscatter ratio profile near 770 nm. This study introduces three key advancements. First, the spectroscopic model used to represent the absorption of light by O2 is enhanced via a more complete physical representation, improving measurement accuracy. Second, the error estimation and masking are developed using the bootstrapping technique. Third, we present a comparison of temperature profiles from our laboratory-based instrument with collocated radiosondes, evaluating the accuracy of our updated measurements. It is essential to clarify that the instrument described in this paper does not operate as a stand-alone TD profiler, as it is not capable of measuring water vapor (WV). Instead, we focus on demonstrating the perturbative retrieval technique with temperature profiles inferred using ancillary radiosonde WV profiles. Results from a full TD profiling instrument will be presented in a future publication. The laboratory-based LiDAR instrument was operated over a 6-month period between April 21, 2022, and September 22, 2022. During this time, we launched 40 radiosondes, providing reference data to validate the accuracy of the DIAL-based temperature profiles. The results indicate that DIAL-based temperature retrievals are within ±2.5°C between 0.4 and 3 km (3.5 km) during daytime (nighttime) operation, using a 300-m range resolution and a 60-min time resolution.
The planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) is an essential parameter for weather forecasting and climate modeling. The primary methods for obtaining the PBLH include radiosonde measurements of atmospheric parameters and lidar measurements, which track aerosol layers in the lower atmosphere. Radiosondes provide the parameters to determine the PBLH but cannot monitor changes over a diurnal cycle. Lidar instruments can track the temporal variability of the PBLH and account for spatial variability when operated in a network configuration. The networkable micropulse DIAL (MPD) instruments for thermodynamic profiling are based on diode-laser technology that is eye-safe and cost-effective and has demonstrated long-term autonomous operation. We present a retrieval algorithm for determining the PBLH from the quantitative aerosol profiling capability of the high spectral resolution channel of the MPD. The PBLH is determined using a Haar wavelet transform (HWT) method that tracks aerosol layers in the lower atmosphere. The PBLH from the lidar is compared with the PBLH determined from potential temperature profiles from radiosondes. In many cases, good agreement among the PBLH retrievals was seen. However, the radiosonde retrieval often missed the lowest inversion layer when several layers were present, while the HWT could track the lowest layer.
Remotely sensed imagery is commonly used to map and monitor large land areas based on the ability to detect vegetation stress. Many sensors are available, including both hyper- and multispectral, but have varying costs, convenience, and characteristics. There were two objectives in this study: (1) to compare a hyperspectral sensor to two multispectral sensors with regards to each sensor’s ability to detect vegetation stress indicators in the visible, red edge, near-infrared, and shortwave infrared portions of the spectrum and (2) to determine the ability of coarser-resolution sensors to detect stress indicators in areas, where a finer resolution sensor detected stress indicators. Pairwise agreements between the sensors were ∼80% in each case, but much of this agreement was a function of agreement where stress indicators were absent. Spatial sensitivity analysis supported a conclusion that coarser-resolution sensors were consistently able to detect stress indicators in areas much smaller than their pixel size.
A fiber sensor array for subsurface CO2 concentration measurements was developed for monitoring geologic carbon sequestration sites. The fiber sensor array uses a single temperature-tunable distributed feedback (DFB) laser operating with a nominal wavelength of 2.004 μm. Light from this DFB laser is directed to one of the four probes via an inline 1×4 fiber optic switch. Each of the four probes is buried and allows the subsurface CO2 to enter the probe through Millipore filters that allow the soil gas to enter the probe but keeps out the soil and water. Light from the DFB laser interacts with the CO2 before it is directed back through the inline fiber optic switch. The DFB laser is tuned across two CO2 absorption features, where a transmission measurement is made allowing the CO2 concentration to be retrieved. The fiber optic switch then directs the light to the next probe where this process is repeated, allowing subsurface CO2 concentration measurements at each of the probes to be made as a function of time. The fiber sensor array was deployed for 58 days beginning from June 19, 2012 at the Zero Emission Research Technology field site, where subsurface CO2 concentrations were monitored. Background measurements indicate that the fiber sensor array can monitor background levels as low as 1000 parts per million (ppm). A 34-day subsurface release of 0.15 tones CO2/day began on July 10, 2012. The elevated subsurface CO2 concentration was easily detected by each of the four probes with values ranging over 60,000 ppm, a factor of greater than 6 higher than background measurements.
Two areas of current activity in the Earth sciences are the development of ground-based sensor networks and sensor
payloads for unmanned aircraft. This paper reviews a few of our sensor development efforts, highlighting how design
elements meet specific sensor measurement needs.
A solar spectrograph is an instrument that takes incoming sunlight over a specified portion of the sun's emitted electromagnetic spectrum and separates the light into its constituent frequency components, or spectrum. The components are then sent to a detector that measures intensity, which reveals the location of spectral properties of the light such as absorption and emission lines. The National Student Solar Spectrograph Competition (NSSSC) is a Montana Space Grant Consortium sponsored competition where undergraduate student teams from across the country design, build, and implement a ground-based solar spectrograph to perform any solar related task and demonstrate their spectrographs for the competition in May 2012 in Bozeman, MT. Each team is given a 2,000-dollar budget to build their spectrograph, which cannot be exceeded, and all spectrographs must follow regulations in the NSSSC guidelines. This team designed a spectrograph to be capable of imaging the sun across the visible spectrum using spatial filters and a standard photo detector rather than a traditional charge-coupled device due to budget limitations. The spectrograph analyzes the spectrum of small sections of the sun to determine how the spectrum varies across solar features such as the corona, active regions, and quiet regions. In addition to solar imaging, the spectrograph will also analyze atmospheric absorption of the solar spectrum by comparing the measured spectrum to the theoretical spectrum calculated from the blackbody equation.
Randal Larimer, Angela DesJardins, Joseph Shaw, Charles Kankelborg, Christopher Palmer, Larry Springer, Joey Key, W. Berk Knighton, Kevin Repasky, Nathan Pust, Mitchell Hobish, Edmond Wilson, Carrie Fitzgerald, Ryan Fitzgerald, Thomas Trickel, Clyde Jensen, Skye Dorsett, Matt Anderson, Jim Boger, Nate McCrady, Jaylene Naylor, Laurie Battle
The yearly National Student Solar Spectrograph Competition (NSSSC) is Montana Space Grant Consortium's Education
and Public Outreach (EP/O) Program for NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission. The NSSSC is
designed to give schools with less aerospace activity such as Minority Serving Institutions and Community Colleges an
opportunity for hands on real world research experience. The NSSSC provides students from across the country the
opportunity to work as part of an undergraduate interdisciplinary team to design, build and test a ground based solar
spectrograph. Over the course of nine months, teams come up with their own science goals and then build an instrument
to collect data in support of their goals. Teams then travel to Bozeman, MT to demonstrate their instruments and present
their results in a competitive science fair environment. This paper and poster will discuss the 2011-2012 competition
along with results as well as provide information on the 2012 -2013 competition opportunities.
This work describes the design and testing of a highly-tunable differential absorption lidar (DIAL) instrument utilizing an all-semiconductor transmitter. This new DIAL instrument transmitter has a highly-tunable external cavity diode laser (ECDL) as a seed laser source for two cascaded commercial tapered amplifiers. The transmitter has the capability of tuning over a range of ~ 17 nm centered at about 832 nm to selectively probe several water vapor absorption lines. This capability has been requested in other recent DIAL experiments for wavelengths near 830 nm. The transmitter produces pulse energies of approximately 0.25 µJ at a repetition rate of 20 kHz. The linewidth is exceptionally narrow at <0.3 MHz, with frequency stability that has been shown to be +/- 88 MHz and spectral purity of 0.995. Tests of the DIAL instrument to prove the validity of its measurements were undertaken. Preliminary water vapor profiles, taken in Bozeman, Montana, agree to within 5-60% with profiles derived from co-located radiosondes 800 meters above ground altitude. Below 800 meters, the measurements are biased low due to a number of systematic issues that are discussed. The long averaging times required by low-power systems have been shown to lead to biases in data, and indeed, our results showed strong disagreements on nights when the atmosphere was changing rapidly, such as on windy nights or when a storm system was entering the area. Improvements to the system to correct the major systematic biases are described.
A compact, widely tunable semiconductor based water vapor differential absorption lidar (DIAL) has been built and
tested at Montana State University (MSU). The laser transmitter uses a tunable external cavity diode laser (ECDL) with
a center wavelength of 830 nm to injection seed two cascaded tapered semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), producing
1.5 micro joule pulses at a pulse repetition rate and pulse width duration of 20 kHz and 1000 ns respectively, allowing
for water vapor number density retrievals up to approximately 4 km. Water vapor number density profiles collected with
the MSU water vapor DIAL will be compared with co-located radiosonde measurements, demonstrating the instruments
ability to measure daytime and nighttime water vapor profiles in the lower troposphere.
It is widely agreed that water vapor is one of the most important gasses in the atmosphere with regards to its role in local weather, global climate, and the water cycle. Especially with the growing concern for understanding and predicting global climate change, detailed data of water vapor distribution and flux and related feedback mechanisms in the lowest 3 km of the troposphere, where most of the atmospheric water vapor resides, are required to aid in climate models. Improved capabilities to monitor range-resolved tropospheric water vapor profiles continuously in time at many locations are needed. One method of obtaining this data in the boundary layer with improved vertical resolution relative to passive remote sensors is with a Differential Absorption LIDAR (DIAL) utilizing a compact laser diode source. Montana State University, with the expertise of its laser source development group, has developed a compact water vapor DIAL system that utilizes a widely tunable amplified external cavity diode laser (ECDL) transmitter. This transmitter has the ability to tune across a 17 nm spectrum near 830 nm, allowing it access to multiple water vapor absorption lines of varying strengths. A novel tuning system tunes and holds the ECDL to within +/- 88 MHz (0.20 pm) of the selected wavelength. The ECDL acts as a seed source for two commercial cascaded tapered amplifiers. The receiver uses commercially available optics and a fiber-coupled Avalanche Photodiode (APD) detector. Initial nighttime measurements of water vapor profiles taken over Bozeman, Montana, with comparisons to radiosonde-derived profiles will be presented.
Recent advances using electronic feedback to control the optical cavity length of external cavity diode lasers (ECDLs) have led to extended continuous tuning ranges. Mode-hop-free tuning over more than 65 GHz has been demonstrated. The ability to tune ECDLs asross a wide range is particularly useful to differential absorption lidar (DIAL) systems that use ECDLs as seed laser sources. Experiments using a multiple-pass gas absorption cell are performed to test a widely tunable, amplified ECDL DIAL transmitter with this extended tuning range system. Experimental results show that the system can be tuned to and maintained at a user-defined wavelength for one hour, then tuned to and maintained at a second user-defined wavelength for one hour without mode hopping. This tuning is successfully accomplished between wavelengths separated by approximately 44 GHz. A computer-controlled feedback loop in the tuning system tunes and holds the laser system to the on- and off-line wavelengths to within ±88 MHz. The laser power transmitted through the gas absorption cell is monitored and used to perform a differential absorption calculation to find the number density of water vapor molecules within the cell. The measured value is in agreement with a HiTRAN prediction of the expected value.
A 17.84-cm-long Littrow external cavity diode laser at 823 nm is mode-locked by actively modulating the current at a 840.843-MHz fundamental harmonic frequency. This mode-locked external cavity diode laser has an overall spectral width of 0.16 nm (or 71 GHz), roughly corresponding to 84 longitudinal modes, a temporal pulse width of 63 ps, and an average power of 1 mW. Using the Pound-Drever-Hall technique with both fast and slow servo corrections, this mode-locked laser is then frequency-stabilized to a 17.84-cm-long sealed optical cavity with a finesse of 6000. To the author's knowledge, this is the first frequency stabilization of a mode-locked diode laser with such a high-finesse cavity.
We present a detailed design of a simple, stable, and compact tapered amplifier (TA) diode system. Heat conductivity, strain release, and system alignment are taken into consideration for this design. Convenient access to the three-dimensional adjustments for collimation makes the system easy to align. The optical amplification is discussed as a function of injection of current and operating temperature for both a continuous-wave external cavity diode laser (CW-ECDL) and a mode-locked external cavity diode laser (ML-ECDL). With 5-mW CW-ECDL seeding power, 240 mW is achieved after the TA, 115 mW (48%) of which can be coupled into a single-mode fiber. With 0.75-mW average ML-ECDL seeding power, 80-mW average power, or about 11-W peak power (843-MHz repetition rate and 8-ps pulse width), is achieved after the TA, 39 mW (49%) of which can be coupled into a single-mode fiber. In both cases, the amplified light maintains the optical properties of the seeding light, showing the same mode suppression. The output power spatial mode quality is characterized with a camera and BeamView software. Output power stability is also discussed.
We describe the design and characterization of a compact dual-polarization lidar that uses a liquid crystal variable retarder (LCVR) to discriminate between backscattered polarization states on alternate laser pulses (at 30 Hz). Measurements of the polarization discrimination of the system, including the liquid crystal and a Schmidt-Cassegrain receiver telescope, show that depolarization ratios can be determined with an additive error of less than 0.4%. The source is a Nd:YAG laser with a wavelength of 532 nm, pulse energy of 118 mJ, and pulse-repetition frequency of 30 Hz. The normal operating range is 15 km, with a 1.5-m range resolution. The full-angle receiver field of view is variable up to 8.8 mrad. Sample data from atmospheric clouds demonstrate the use of lidar depolarization measurements for distinguishing between ice and liquid water in thin clouds with low multiple scattering (with cloud phase verified using radiosonde profiles of atmospheric temperature and humidity). Also shown is a lidar observation of a depolarizing layer over Bozeman, Montana, identified as subvisual cirrus, aerosols transported from in or near China, or a combination thereof.
Water vapor is one of the most significant constituents of the atmosphere because of its role in cloud formation, precipitation, and interactions with electromagnetic radiation, especially its absorption of longwave infrared radiation. Some details of the role of water vapor and related feedback mechanisms in the Earth system need to be characterized better if local weather, global climate, and the water cycle are to be understood. A Differential Absorption LIDAR (DIAL) with a compact laser diode source may be able to provide boundary-layer water vapor profiles with improved vertical resolution relative to passive remote sensors. While the tradeoff with small DIAL systems is lower vertical resolution relative to large LIDARs, the advantage is that DIAL systems can be built much smaller and more robust at less cost, and consequently are the more ideal choice for creating a multi-point array or satellite-borne system. This paper highlights the progress made at Montana State University towards a water vapor DIAL using a widely tunable amplified external cavity diode laser (ECDL) transmitter. The ECDL is configured in a Littman-Metcalf configuration and was built at Montana State University. It has a continuous wave (cw) output power of 20 mW, a center wavelength of 832 nm, a coarse tuning range of 17 nm, and a continuous tuning range greater than 20 GHz. The ECDL is used to injection seed a tapered amplifier with a cw output power of 500 mW. The spectral characteristics of the ECDL are transferred to the output of the tapered amplifier. The rest of the LIDAR uses commercially available telescopes, filter optics, and detectors. Initial cw and pulsed absorption measurements are presented.
Information on local cloud coverage, with high spatial and temporal resolution, is useful for studying how the radiative properties of clouds affect the climate. The resolution of a lidar allows for detection of subvisual cloud and aerosol layers, and for determining particle sizes of the scatterers. A cloud lidar sensitive to polarization can distinguish between ice and water in clouds, since ice crystals are more depolarizing than water droplets. Cloud lidars complement either ground-based or space-based cloud imagers by supplying the missing vertical dimension. This paper describes the design and characterization of a lidar system for the direct detection of clouds, using a liquid crystal to discriminate between backscattered polarization states on alternate laser pulses (at 30 Hz). The source is a Nd:YAG laser at a wavelength of 532 nm and with pulse energies of 118 mJ. The system is designed to be compact and robust enough for transport and deployment. Data presented show the lidar system is capable of detecting clouds up to 9.5 km above ground level (the normal operating range is 15 km) with a 1.5 m range resolution. The receiver field of view is conveniently variable up to 8.8 mrad. Daytime operation is possible, thanks to laser-line interference filters and a gated photomultiplier tube. Polarization discrimination is sufficient to measure depolarization ratios with an additive error of less than 0.4%.
The design issues for the technique of continuously programming a coherent transient spatial-spectral optical signal processor are discussed. The repeated application of two spatially distinct optical programming pulses to a non- persistent hole-burning material writes an accumulated, spatial-spectral population grating with low intensity optical pulses as compared to single shot programing. An optical data stream is introduced on a third beam, resulting in a processor output signal spatially distinct from all the input pulses. Programming and processing take place simultaneously, asynchronously and continuously. For accumulated gratings, the frequency stability of the optical source is an important consideration. Assuming a sufficiently stable optical source, simulations show that an accumulated (and maintained) grating in steady state, for both storage of a true-time delay and/or pattern waveform, can be highly efficient using currently available materials, on the order of that predicted for a perfect photon-gated device. An experimental demonstration of the continuous programming concept for true time delays programmed with chirped pulses is presented, showing the accumulation of the grating with low area pulses over time until it reaches steady state, for times longer than the persistence of the material.
It has been shown that only a few photons of input signal into a H2 Raman amplifier are enough to ensure that the amplified signal is larger than the amplified spontaneous scattering. This low noise property of Raman amplifiers makes it feasible to perform injection seeding experiments using a low power continuous wave laser diode. In this paper we study, experimentally and theoretically, the amplification of a laser diode beam in an optically pumped Raman amplifier. It is found that for larger laser diode powers the signal grows nearly exponentially in the pump laser power. At low laser diode powers (<EQ 5 nW), on the other hand, the behavior is more complicated because the spontaneously scattered light which is then amplified is comparable in power to the amplified signal. We also find that due to an increased number of spatial spontaneous scattering modes, the ratio of amplified spontaneous scattering to amplified signal is larger at low pump powers than high pump laser powers. The experiments, including experiments with no laser diode input, are described by a 3D theory of a gain-guided amplifier. This theory expresses the amplified electric field as a linear combination of nonorthogonal modes and, in slightly different forms, has been used to describe a wide range of amplifiers from Raman amplifiers to x-ray lasers.
This paper examines the effect of index guiding in a Raman amplifier. The slowly varying Maxwell wave equation including the total Raman susceptibility for a seeded Raman amplifier is explored. Numerical calculations indicate that the real part of the Raman susceptibility cause the Raman medium to act as a lens when the Stokes seed is detuned from the Raman resonance. This focusing effect leads to a gain enhancement of up to 5% and a shift in the peak Stokes energy by up to 145 MHz to the blue side of the Raman resonance for Raman scattering in H2 with a pump laser at 532 nm and an input seed near 683 nm.
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