The absolute frequency reference unit for the spaceborne methane-sensing lidar mission MERLIN

The absolute frequency reference unit for the spaceborne methane-sensing lidar mission MERLIN

Lidar systems have become an important technology in a variety of industrial and scientific applications. For terrestrial applications, such systems have been developed over the last decade and are commercially available. In space, this technology does not have a comparable maturity level and is sti...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:CEAS space journal Vol. 11; no. 4; pp. 459 - 473
Main Authors: Heinecke, D., Liebherr, T., Battles, D., Schleisiek, K., Fehrenbacher, D., Baatzsch, A., Herding, M., Dahl, C., Schäfer, H.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01-12-2019
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Accuracy
Aerospace Technology and Astronautics
Engineering
Frequency stability
High power lasers
Lidar
Methane
Original Paper
Remote sensing
Methane
Absorption spectroscopy
Optical reference
Gas cell
Laser diode
Lidar
Absolute frequency reference
Wavemeter
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Lidar systems have become an important technology in a variety of industrial and scientific applications. For terrestrial applications, such systems have been developed over the last decade and are commercially available. In space, this technology does not have a comparable maturity level and is still far from being a standard technology. In this paper, we present the operating principle, the design, and performance of the spaceborne absolute frequency reference used in the instrument of the French–German methane remote-sensing lidar mission, MERLIN. The MERLIN instrument operates on a methane absorption feature at 1645.55 nm. To achieve the accuracy goal for the column-integrated methane concentration of 3 ppb, absolute frequency accuracy levels in the low MHz range are required. The absolute frequency reference unit provides the stabilized seed lasers for the high-power laser sources at the required wavelengths and measures the absolute frequency of the outgoing laser pulses by means of a wavemeter. The focus of this paper is on the implementation of the absolute frequency referencing and the obtained frequency stability and accuracy.
ISSN:1868-2502
1868-2510
DOI:10.1007/s12567-019-00268-6