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Future Cherenkov Gamma Ray (CGR) experiments will reach a sensitivity and energy resolution never obtained until now by any other high energy gamma–ray experiment. It is well known that atmospheric conditions contribute particularly in this aspect. Raman lidars can help reduce the systematic uncertainties of the molecular and aerosol components of the atmosphere so these performances can be reached. The motivation for Raman lidars and the design and development of the Montpellier Raman lidar system is described. It provides both multiple elastic and Raman readout channels and custom-made optics design. Preliminary lidar tests and signals show the actual performance of the lidar in consistency with the desired goals.

We present the preliminary design of a polarization lidar system for detecting oriented dust particles. The system emits linearly- and circularly-polarized light from two lasers and detects the backscattered light, using two telescopes. The emitted light by each laser is detected from both telescopes alternatively, providing in this way two times the signals recorded by a conventional system. The system has also the capability of performing measurements at different zenith angles. Its detection strategy is based on scattering calculations for mixtures of oriented and randomly-oriented dust particles in different atmospheric scenarios.

The eVe dual-laser/dual-telescope lidar system is briefly given here, focusing on the optical and mechanical parts of system's emission and receiver units. The compact design of linear/circular emission unit along with the linear/circular analyser in the receiver unit, allows eVe to simultaneously reproduce the operation of the ALADIN lidar on board Aeolus as well as the operation of a traditional ground-based polarisation lidar system with linear emission. As such, eVe lidar aims to provide: (a) ground reference measurements for the validation of the Aeolus L2A aerosol products, and (b) the atmospheric conditions for which linear polarisation lidar systems can be considered for Aeolus L2A validation, by identifying any possible biases arisen from the different polarisation state in the emission between ALADIN and these systems, and the detection of only the co-polar component of the returned signal from ALADIN for the L2A products retrieval. In addition, a brief description is given concerning the polarisation calibration techniques that are applied in the system, as well as the developed software for the analysis of the collected signals and the retrieval of the optical products. More specifically, the system's dual configuration enables the retrieval of the optical properties of particle backscatter and extinction coefficients originating from the two different polarisation states of the emission, the linear and circular depolarisation ratios, as well as the direct calculation of the Aeolus like backscatter coefficient, i.e., the backscatter coefficient that Aeolus would measure from ground. Two cases, one with slightly-depolarising particles and one with moderately-depolarising particles, were selected from the first conducted measurements of eVe in Athens, in order to give a glimpse of the system's capabilities. In the slightly depolarising scene, the Aeolus like backscatter coefficient agrees well with the actual backscatter coefficient, which is also true when non-depolarising particles are present. The agreement however fades out for strongly depolarising scenes, where an underestimation of ~17 % of the Aeolus like backscatter coefficient is observed when moderately-depolarising particles are probed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]