Light-backscatter measurement device suitable for use on board a craft

摘要

The device can be used on an aircraft or spacecraft. It comprises a laser for emitting short light pulses, a channel for receiving the backscattered light flux and an optical conical scanner means making it possible to orient a direction common to laser emission and to reception via the channel along successive generatrices of a cone. The scanner has a mirror rotated about a scanning axis for deflecting an optical path common to a receiving detector and to the laser along successive directions distributed at regular angular intervals around the scanning axis and several stationary reflectors distributed at the regular intervals. The reflectors are successively inserted on the common optical path by the rotating mirror. The stationary reflectors correspond to different probing orientations along the cone. The rotating mirror has a size very much less than that of the beam entering and exiting the device.