A large coaxial lidar for elastic and inelastic scattering studies of the stratosphere

A very powerful, fixed zenith laser radar system, based upon a liquid dye laser, is described in detail. The laser is a linear flashlamp pumped dye system capable of an average power output of 6W at a prf of 3 s^–1 using rhodamine 6G dye and about 3W with the same prf using esculin monohydrate dye. The use of this laser as a transmitting source in the lidar system has permitted the detection of Stokes shifted vibration/rotation Raman back-scattered light from neutral nitrogen in the stratosphere and from these measurements, stratospheric temperature profiles have been derived. The lidar has also been used to study elastic backscattering from the stratosphere at two wavelengths and preliminary results of a new technique for studying stratospheric aerosol are presented.