Signal to noise ratio improvement in lidar systems incorporating neodymium doped optical fiber preamplifiers

Author

Salisbury, Michael S. ; McManamon, Paul F. ; Duncan, Bradley D.

Author_Institution

Wright Lab., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA

fYear

1992

fDate

18-22 May 1992

Firstpage

1097

Abstract

A continuous-wave-only micron lidar (light detection and ranging) system is modeled to examine the potential benefits of incorporating a neodymium-doped optical fiber amplifier in the path of the returning optical signal. The spectroscopic theory of a four-level dopant is discussed to introduce factors involved in pumping a doped fiber to use as a fiber amplifier. Spontaneous emission effects are considered. Also included is a theoretical analysis of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the lidar system and the effect of the spontaneous emission noise on the SNR. An overview of the experimental design and preliminary experimental results are given

Keywords

fibre lasers; neodymium; optical pumping; optical radar; Nd³⁺-doped fibre; SNR; continuous-wave-only micron lidar; four-level dopant; lidar systems; pumping; returning optical signal; signal-to-noise ratio; spectroscopic theory; spontaneous emission effects; spontaneous emission noise; Doped fiber amplifiers; Laser radar; Optical fiber amplifiers; Optical fiber theory; Optical noise; Optical pumping; Semiconductor process modeling; Signal to noise ratio; Spontaneous emission; Stimulated emission;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace and Electronics Conference, 1992. NAECON 1992., Proceedings of the IEEE 1992 National

Conference_Location

Dayton, OH

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0652-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NAECON.1992.220629

Filename

220629