《3436Pulsed multiwavelength laser ranging system for measuring atmospheric delay》.pdf

Pulsed multiwavelength laser ranging system for measuring atmospheric delay James B. Abshire A multiwavelength laser ranging system has been designed for measuring atmospheric path delay in satellite laser ranging systems. The instrument measures the difference between the propagation times of 532 and 355 nm pulses as a measure of integrated air density. The present design uses a frequency-tripled dye mode-locked Nd:YAG laser as a pulse source and subnanosecond response time photomultipliers as detec- tors. Studies indicate that recovery of the atmospheric path delay in satellite ranging to the 1-cm level will require the differential arrival time measurements with an accuracy of 3-7 ps. Initial horizontal path test results are presented. 1. Introduction Figure 1 shows a plot of measured error in the Mar- Current NASA ranging systems 1-3 use 2-5-nsec pulse ini-Murray model vs azimuth angle 9 10 and illustrates width Q-switched or cavity dumped laser transmitters known modelling errors. It shows the difference be- and can range to satellite with errors of from 5 to 20 cm. tween the path delay values computed by the model and System accuracies are expected to approach the 1-cm the delay computed by tracing rays through the atmo- level with the introduction of mode-locked laser sphere surrounding the ranging site. The three di- transmitters. 4 At this time errors in the model for at- mensional atmospheric profile used as a basis for the ray mospheric refractivity could dominate the rangin