Progress of research on water vapor lidar

Research is summarized on applications of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) of laser light into near infrared wavelengths suitable for atmospheric monitoring. Issues addressed are conversion efficiency, spectral purity, optimization of operating conditions, and amplification techniques. A Raman cell was developed and built for the laboratory program, and is now available to NASA-Langley, either as a design or as a completed cell for laboratory or flight applications. The Raman cell has been approved for flight in NASA's DC-8 aircraft. The self-seeding SRS technique developed here is suggested as an essential improvement for tunable near-IR DIAL applications at wavelengths of order 1 micrometer or greater.