Steerable laser system for UV atmospheric monitoring at the High-Resolution Fly's Eye

摘要

Abstract: Monitoring the aerosol component of the lowest 10 km ofthe atmosphere at UV wavelengths (300 - 400 nm) is animportant part of the High Resolution Fly's Eyeastrophysics experiment. Our method of atmosphericmonitoring uses a frequency tripled YAG laser and asteering system that can point the beam anywhere in thesky. The same detector that measures scintillationlight from high energy cosmic rays also measures lightscattered from this laser system over a range of laserenergies, geometries, and polarizations. This paperdescribes the technique, the laser system, and somerecent measurements.!9