title: Experimental evidence of signal-optical noise interferencelike effect in underwater amplitude-modulated laser optical radar systems.
abstract: We report experimental evidence that in an amplitude-modulated laser optical radar system for underwater 3D imaging the observed contrast oscillations as a function of the modulation frequency originate from an interference-like effect between target signal VT and water backscattered radiation VW. The demonstration relies on the ability to perform a direct measurement of VW in a 25 m long test tank. The proposed data processing method enables one to remove the contribution of water backscattering from the detected signal and drastically reduce signal fluctuations due to the medium. Experiments also confirm the possibility to improve the signal to optical noise ratio and contrast by increasing the modulation frequency.
authors.affiliation: ENEA-Ente per le Nuove tecnologie, l'Energia e l'Ambiente, Centro Ricerche di Frascati, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bartolini
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Dominicis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferri de Collibus
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fornetti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Francucci
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guarneri
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nuvoli
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paglia
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ricci