MIRELA and infrared DIAL-DISC lidar for the remote sensing of hazardous substances in the atmosphere

MIRELA has been studied and realized in the framework of a French-American MOU on the stand-off detection of chemical agents. It is able to perform DIAL-DISC measurements in the wavelength range 9 to 11 micrometers , by using a frequency agile CO2 TEA laser. The MIRELA main advantage is its large dynamic range allowing the simultaneous detection of a light cloud and a hard target or the one of a hard target after propagation through a highly- absorbing medium. The description of MIRELA and the results of the first field tests will be given.