Detection of molecular backscattering with a tapered fiber amplifier based coherent heterodyne lidar

Fiber based coherent heterodyne lidars are highly valued and robust tools especially in sensing of wind speed and turbulence in the atmosphere. The magnitude of aerosol backscattering is also possible to be analysed from the data. However, the aerosol backscattering values cannot be calibrated without the data of molecular backscattering reference, which has not been available earlier due to power and bandwidth limitations. We present the detection of aerosol and molecular backscattering simultaneously with a fiber based coherent lidar instrument utilising a tapered fiber amplifier that yields to a pulse peak power of 1.9 kW at the wavelength of 1053 nm. Further, our receiver bandwidth of 1.5 GHz enables the spectral analysis of aerosol and molecular scattering spectra, which are recorded and analysed for multiple altitudes up to 1 km. The results demonstrate the potential of coherent heterodyne lidars to extend their capabilities toward backscattering and extinction analysis.