Particle velocity measurement by low-coherence Doppler lidar

In this work, we propose a low-coherence Doppler lidar (LCDL) to measure particle velocity at near-surface atmosphere. To measure particle velocity information at near-surface atmosphere, it is necessary to conduct the measurement at high frequency and resolution. Low coherence light source can satisfy this high-resolution criterion. We discuss the system efficiency to detect atmospheric echoes by theoretical analysis. In the particle velocity experiment, Doppler shifted frequency is about 5 MHz and the particle velocity calculated from the peak Doppler signal is 2.7 m/s, while minimum and maximum velocity are 1.85 and 2.92 m/s, respectively. Anemometer result shows good agreement with LCDL results.