Inventors:
J. Alex Thomson - Santa Fe NM
Stephen M. Hannon - Arvada CO
Sammy W. Henderson - Boulder CO
Assignee:
Coherent Technologies, Inc. - Boulder CO
International Classification:
G01C 308
Abstract:
In a laser radar (lidar) system, a Doublet Pulse is generated by injection-seeded aborted cavity dumping of a solid-state laser. The doublet pulse provides coherent Doppler lidar systems a substantial time bandwidth product (TB) with a very modest processing requirement. The waveform format comprises a pair of pulselets, each of duration. tau. , separated by T seconds. The range resolution is governed by the pulselet duration. tau. , while the velocity precision is governed by one over the pulselet separation, T. Ambiguities in the velocity measurement arise as a result of the periodic structure of the waveform and occur every. lambda. /2T m/sec, where. lambda. is the operating wavelength. These ambiguities are removed by conventional de-aliasing algorithms as well as through the generation and processing of higher order pulse waveforms.