Femtosecond LIDAR: new perspectives of atmospheric remote sensing

High-power femtosecond laser pulses can lead to strong nonlinear interactions during the propagation through a medium. In air the well known self-guiding effect produces long intense and moderately ionized filaments, in which a broad white-light continuum from the near UV to the mid IR is generated. The forward directed white-light can be used to do range resolved broadband absorption measurements, which opens the way to a real multi-component lidar for the simultaneous detection of several trace gases. On the other hand, enhanced nonlinear scattering and characteristic emission from the filament region, as well as from the interaction of intense pulses with aerosols, can be observed. This opens perspectives towards a novel kind of analysis of atmospheric constituents, based upon nonlinear optics. Additionally, the conductivity of the filaments can be used for lightning control. Here we present the basic concepts of the femtosecond lidar, laboratory experiments and recent results of atmospheric measurements.

[1]  Gerard Mourou,et al.  Compression of amplified chirped optical pulses , 1985 .

[2]  G. Mourou,et al.  Self-channeling of high-peak-power femtosecond laser pulses in air. , 1995, Optics letters.

[3]  J. P. Barton,et al.  Internal and near-surface electromagnetic fields for a spheroidal particle with arbitrary illumination. , 1995, Applied optics.

[4]  Raymond M. Measures,et al.  Laser remote sensing : fundamentals and applications , 1983 .

[5]  Pierre Couture,et al.  Triggering and guiding leader discharges using a plasma channel created by an ultrashort laser pulse , 2000 .

[6]  Laurence S. Rothman,et al.  The HITRAN molecular spectroscopic database and HAWKS (HITRAN atmospheric workstation) , 1998, Defense, Security, and Sensing.

[7]  D. Carroll,et al.  Modelling third harmonic generation from micro-droplets , 1998 .

[8]  Jean-Pierre Wolf,et al.  A new transient SRS analysis method of aerosols and application to a nonlinear femtosecond lidar , 1998 .

[9]  Michael Eisinger,et al.  The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME): Mission Concept and First Scientific Results , 1999 .

[10]  Charles G. Durfee,et al.  High power ultrafast lasers , 1998 .

[11]  Chang,et al.  Enhanced backward-directed multiphoton-excited fluorescence from dielectric microcavities , 2000, Physical review letters.

[12]  Laurence S. Rothman,et al.  Reprint of: The HITRAN molecular spectroscopic database and HAWKS (HITRAN Atmospheric Workstation): 1996 edition , 1998 .

[13]  Jin Yu,et al.  Teramobile: A mobile femtosecond-terawatt laser and detection system , 2002 .

[14]  R Sauerbrey,et al.  Infrared extension of the super continuum generated by femtosecond terawatt laser pulses propagating in the atmosphere. , 2000, Optics letters.

[15]  Ulrich Platt,et al.  Differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) , 1994 .

[16]  Takatoshi Shindo,et al.  Development of long gap discharges guided by a pulsed CO2 laser , 1993 .

[17]  M. Sigrist.  Air monitoring by spectroscopic techniques , 1994 .

[18]  R Sauerbrey,et al.  Triggering and guiding megavolt discharges by use of laser-induced ionized filaments. , 2002, Optics letters.

[19]  Jean-Claude Kieffer,et al.  Filamentation of ultrashort pulse laser beams resulting from their propagation over long distances in air , 1999 .

[20]  See Leang Chin,et al.  The critical laser intensity of self-guided light filaments in air , 2000 .

[21]  J. Notholt.  The Moon as a light source for FTIR measurements of stratospheric trace gases during the polar night: Application for HNO3 in the Arctic , 1994 .

[22]  R Sauerbrey,et al.  Backward supercontinuum emission from a filament generated by ultrashort laser pulses in air. , 2001, Optics letters.

[23]  Corkum,et al.  Supercontinuum generation in gases. , 1986, Physical review letters.

[24]  See Leang Chin,et al.  The White Light Supercontinuum Is Indeed an Ultrafast White Light Laser , 1999 .

[25]  A. Mysyrowicz,et al.  Formation of a conducting channel in air by self-guided femtosecond laser pulses. , 1999, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics.

[26]  B. Stein,et al.  Remote sensing of the atmosphere using ultrashort laser pulses , 2000 .

[27]  F. Salin,et al.  Conical emission from self-guided femtosecond pulses in air. , 1996, Optics letters.

[28]  Gilles Riazuelo,et al.  Numerical simulations of the nonlinear propagation of femtosecond optical pulses in gases , 1999 .

[29]  Andrew G. Glen,et al.  APPL , 2001 .