Applications of fiber lasers for remote sensing of atmospheric greenhouse gases

In 2004 ITT Exelis developed the Multifunctional Fiber Laser Lidar (MFLL) for measuring atmospheric CO2. This lidar relies on high efficiency telecom laser components and Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFA’s) to implement a unique Continuous Wave (CW) Intensity Modulated (IM) differential absorption lidar measurement. This same approach has also been used to measure atmospheric O2 by replacing the EDFA’s with fiber Raman amplifier technology. The use of all fiber coupled components results in a highly reliable, flexible and robust instrument. The general architecture of the MFLL, its implementation for greenhouse gas measurements, and as a pseudorandom noise encoded altimeter system is reviewed. Results from a 2011 flight campaign on the NASA DC-8 aircraft which included CO2, O2, and PN altimetry using a single receiver for all three measurements are also discussed. In addition, an introduction to a novel variation of this approach that will enable greenhouse gas monitoring from a geostationary orbit is given. This paper provides a general overview of a set of applications for fiber lasers in the area of active remote sensing that have been developed by Exelis over the past several years.