Characterization and mitigation of digitization-induced nonlinearity in coherent differential absorption lidar
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Digitizer nonlinearity is a known systematic error source in differential absorption lidar (DIAL). We quantify this effect in a 1.5 µm coherent DIAL using an in-fiber differential absorption optical depth (DAOD) emulator. The effective digitization-induced DAOD nonlinearity is measured for two digitizers, and its impact is mitigated using radio-frequency (RF)-domain online/offline heterodyne-power balancing and pseudo-random logarithmic dithering. Relative to a 3 dB imbalance, the combined methods reduce the maximum DAOD error over a 40 dB RF-power range by 8- and 31-fold, respectively, yielding an equivalent CO 2 mixing-ratio error below 3 ppm over a 3 km integrated path at ambient levels.
Source: Optics Express
DOI: 10.1364/oe.614896
Authors: Nikita Kikilich, Aarni Akkala, Juha Toivonen
Language: English
Subfield: Spectroscopy
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,270
OpenAlex ID: W7211968080