A survey of laser and selected optical systems for remote measurement of pollutant gas concentrations
Applications of the Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) technique to the remote sensing of pollutant gases are surveyed. In the DIAl technique, the differential absorption of two laser beams reflected back to a receiver from a target determines the concentration of the gas being studied. The types of instruments available are considered in detail: dye lidar (to measure nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and ozone); carbon dioxide laser (for ozone, ethylene, ammonia, and hydrazine), helium-neon laser (for methane); hydrogen fluoride laser (for HF); and tunable diode laser (for nitric oxide and carbon monoxide). DIAL instruments are compared with other optical remote sensors such as Fourier-transform infrared spectrometers, correlation spectrometers (COSPEC and GASPEC), and grating spectrometers; and criteria for the selection of an appropriate gas measuring system are suggested. Laser and other optical remote sensors are found to be cost effective in many cases, despite the fact that they are more costly than point-monitoring systems.