Laboratory scaled simulation of lidar cloud sounding experiments

The results of lidar measurements carried out on laboratory scale models of clouds are presented. Measurements on laboratory scale models are important since one has the knowledge of the relevant parameters of the diffusing medium, such as: scattering and absorption coefficients, phase function, homogeneity, shape, etc. Knowledge of these parameters enables one to use the results to test the reliability of theoretical and numerical investigations. To obtain a laboratory scaled model of a lidar system sounding a cloud, it is necessary to scale down all the geometrical quantities by the same factor to reduce distances of the order of kilometers to the order of meters, keeping the size and the optical depth of the diffusers unchanged. If a time resolution of the order of nanoseconds is necessary for a lidar sounding actual clouds, the corresponding time resolution for the laboratory model should be of the order of picoseconds. It is possible to obtain this resolution by using picosecond laser systems and fast electrooptical detectors like the streak camera. The results of the laboratory measurements showed that the multiple scattering effect strongly depends on the size of the diffusers, as well as on the concentration. The experimental results were compared with the numerical results of a Monte Carlo code. A generally good agreement was obtained.