Vertical wind profiling with fiber-Mach-Zehnder-interferometer-based incoherent Doppler lidar

Abstract An incoherent Doppler lidar system based on a fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (FMZI) for vertical wind profiling is established. The FMZI Doppler lidar is sensitive to Mie backscattering signals but insensitive to Rayleigh backscattering signals and has a 9.99 cm FMZI arm-length difference. The lidar operates with an injection-seeded Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm and a 406-mm-aperture telescope. Vertical wind profiles up to a height of approximately 550 m were obtained with a 24 m vertical spatial resolution by the FMZI Doppler lidar in Xi'an (China) on April 17, 2018. The reference signal is used for calibrating the laser-frequency jitter. The measured vertical wind velocities are in good agreement with the coherent Doppler lidar vertical wind measurements made simultaneously from the same location. The FMZI Doppler lidar realized the critical step on the road to practice.