Polarization And Atmospheric Backscatter Coefficient Measurements
Abstract
Recently, it was pointed out that polarization effects must be considered in hard target calibration of lidars. A vector theory of radiometry is developed, and it is demonstrated for a real nonideal target that the reflectance is a matrix quantity and not a scalar quantity, and all its components must be measured. These concepts can be extended to actual field measurements of the volume backscatter coefficients. The volume backscatter coefficient at range R is an averaged (4 x 4) matrix, which is averaged over the sampling depth dR = cτ/2. The transmitted beam is polarized in a definite sense, the received beam is still polarized, and both are represented as (4 x 1) Stokes vectors so that the interaction must be represented by a (4 x 4) matrix called the volume backscatter coefficient /3. Present experiments are in error for data are considered a scalar quantity with only one value not a matrix with sixteen components. Some of these components may be zero but many are not. © 1989 Optical Society of America.
Recommended Citation
R. A. Anderson, "Polarization And Atmospheric Backscatter Coefficient Measurements," Applied Optics, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 854 - 874, Optica, Jan 1989.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.28.000865
Department(s)
Physics
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
2155-3165; 1559-128X
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2023 Optica, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 1989
