Oral Session 2

Brillouin asymmetric spatial heterodyne oceanographic lidar receiver for profiling temperature, salinity, and sound velocity

Existing remote sensors obtain temperature and salinity only at the sea surface. No sensor today is capable of rapidly acquiring depth resolved profiles of temperature and salinity across a wide geographic area. Yet, the physics to do so exists. We present an airborne lidar concept that exploits the physics of Brillouin scattering to retrieve temperature and salinity at depth in oceanic waters. The concept is an extension of the mature, proven technologies that have flown on NASA Langley Research Center’s airborne high spectral resolution lidars for decades. Novel among approaches proposed to date is the use of a field widened spectrometer to resolve the features of the Brillouin spectrum. This permits a receiver with a substantially increased etendue (optical extent) relative to existing proposed approaches, affording significantly greater SNR at depth with good sensitivity. The concept is presented, along with simulation results and a slew of potential scientific and operational applications that could be addressed with this new sensor technology.

John Smith, NASA Langley Research Center, USA, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6066-793X

Chris Hostetler, NASA Langley Research Center, USA

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