First Investigation of an All-fiber Versatile Laser Frequency Reference at 2 M for Co2 Lidar Applications

Nowadays, space-borne differential absorption lidar (DIAL) instruments are under investigation by space agencies to monitor the integrated column density or the atmospheric density profile of gaseous species from space to ground. A species of particular interest in the context of greenhouse gases and global climate warming is CO2. Two wavelength ranges at 1572 nm and 2051 nm are being considered for a future CO2 space-borne integrated-path DIAL (IPDA) instrument [1]; the former range is technologically more mature while the latter is more favourable from a spectroscopic point-of-view [2]. The performance of such systems is notably determined by the spectral purity, accuracy and frequency stability of a low-power continuous-wave laser that seeds the pulsed laser transmitter.