Direct-detection wind lidar operating with a multimode laser.

A direct-detection wind lidar that operates with a multimode laser has been developed and tested. The instrument exploits the light backscattered by particles using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with an optical path difference matched to the free spectral range of the laser longitudinal modes. In addition to requiring no monomodal emission, the system requires no frequency locking between the interferometer and the laser.