EAGER: Thermospheric Helium (He) Resonance LIDAR Development

EAGER：热层氦 (He) 共振激光雷达开发

• 批准号: 0934492
• 负责人: Gary Swenson
• 金额: $ 29.63万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2011-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0934492&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Thermospheric; Helium; He; Resonance

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This project is for the continued development of a Helium (He) 1083nm resonance bistatic lidar which will achieve the first lidar measurements of the upper thermosphere. A key element in the lidar design and construction has already been attained: a tunable 10-Watt continuous-wave solid-state narrow band laser transmitter operating at 1083 nm has been developed at the Principal Investigator (PI) institution. The next tasks to be completed are to (1) upgrade the existing laser and sensor elements; (2) demonstrate the lidar's capability through field measurements; and (3) increase the transmitter power and implement frequency shifting. The first task involves implementing a frequency lock of the transmitter to the He resonance line. The second task will test the frequency-locked transmitter by measuring metastable He densities at Magdalena Ridge Observatory near Socorro, New Mexico, at an altitude of 10,500 feet and comparing them with model calculations. The third task continues instrument development by increasing the transmitter power to 50 W and implementing frequency shifting in order to Doppler sample the He distribution from which temperatures and winds can be derived. In terms of broader impacts, the new lidar will open new areas of study in both theory and experiment as well as in advanced laser technology. It will provide correlative information for current upper atmosphere instruments such as incoherent scatter radar and imagers. Graduate and undergraduate students are heavily involved in the research activities and will acquire broad training in instrument design, development, testing, calibration, and operation, as well as signal processing and data analysis and interpretation. The new lidar will be used as a hands-on laboratory tool for one of the engineering courses at the PI institution. Finally, the project does have the potential to be transformative, both in furthering lidar design and development and in providing a new observing capability to upper atmospheric science.

该奖项根据 2009 年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法 111-5）提供资金。该项目用于继续开发氦 (He) 1083nm 共振双基地激光雷达，该雷达将实现对上层热层的首次激光雷达测量。 激光雷达设计和构造的一个关键要素已经实现：首席研究员 (PI) 机构已开发出工作波长为 1083 nm 的可调谐 10 瓦连续波固态窄带激光发射器。 接下来要完成的任务是（1）升级现有的激光器和传感器元件； (2)通过现场测量展示激光雷达的能力； (3)增加发射机功率并进行移频。 第一项任务涉及将发射机的频率锁定到 He 谐振线。 第二项任务将测试锁频发射机，测量新墨西哥州索科罗附近马格达莱纳岭天文台海拔 10,500 英尺处的亚稳态 He 密度，并将其与模型计算结果进行比较。 第三项任务是继续仪器开发，将发射机功率增加到 50 W 并实施频移，以便对 He 分布进行多普勒采样，从中得出温度和风。 就更广泛的影响而言，新型激光雷达将在理论和实验以及先进激光技术方面开辟新的研究领域。 它将为当前的高层大气仪器（例如非相干散射雷达和成像仪）提供相关信息。 研究生和本科生积极参与研究活动，并将获得仪器设计、开发、测试、校准和操作以及信号处理和数据分析和解释方面的广泛培训。 新的激光雷达将用作 PI 机构一门工程课程的实践实验室工具。 最后，该项目确实具有变革的潜力，既可以进一步推进激光雷达的设计和开发，也可以为高层大气科学提供新的观测能力。