Alexandrite Lidar Receiver

Abstract : Utah State University's responsibility to the U.S. Army Research Office and the DoD's DURIP Program was to design, and obtain from a vendor, an "Alexandrite Lidar Receiver". The chosen vendor, Orca Photonics, In. (Redmond, WA), in close collaboration with USU personnel, built a portable, computerized lidar system that not only is suitable as a receiver for a near IR alexandrite laser, but also contains an independent Nd: YAG laser tor standalone lidar operations at 532nm. The LRS-100 lidar delivered under this contract has two analog PMT receivers channels to detected both in daytime as well as at night. Though zenith observations are the typical operational mode of the Orca lidar, we also demonstrated off-zenith lidar measurements using a mirror beam director and a holographic transmission grating (HTG) on the receiving telescope ARO's satisfaction with the Orca lidar has led to funding for a separate USU contract to Orca (now completed under DURIP sponsorship) to add two digital (Photon counting) channels for greater sensitivity and range, particularly for nighttime observations. ORCA Photonics, Inc. has proved to be an excellent, responsive vendor for industry-university collaborations.