title: Performance evaluation of a dual fringe-imaging Michelson interferometer for air parameter measurements with a 355 nm Rayleigh-Mie lidar.
abstract: A new concept of spectrum analyzer is proposed for short-range lidar measurements in airborne applications. It implements a combination of two fringe-imaging Michelson interferometers to analyze the Rayleigh-Mie spectrum backscattered by molecules and particles at 355 nm. The objective is to perform simultaneous measurements of four variables: the air speed, the air temperature and density, and the particle scattering ratio. The Cramer-Rao bounds are calculated to evaluate the best expectable measurement accuracies. The performance optimization shows that a Michelson interferometer with a path difference of 3 cm is optimal for air speed measurements in clear air. To optimize density, temperature, and scattering ratio measurements, the second interferometer should be set to a path difference of 10 cm at least; 20 cm would be better to be less sensitive to the actual Rayleigh-Brillouin line shape.
authors.affiliation: French Aerospace Lab (ONERA), Chemin de la Hunière, Palaiseau 91761, France. nicolas.cezard@onera.fr
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cézard
authors.forename: Agnès
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dolfi-Bouteyre
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Huignard
authors.forename: Pierre H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Flamant