Method of remotely detecting submarines using a laser

摘要

Subsurface waves in a body of water such as an ocean caused by a submarine are remotely nonacoustically detected by monitoring subsurface water temperatures using a laser. A pulsed laser beam is directed into the water to at least the depth of the thermocline and an analysis is made of the resultant Brillouin and Rayleigh backscatter components. Wavelength shifted Brillouin scatter is mixed with the unshifted Rayleigh scatter in a self-heterodyne manner for each volume element of illuminated water, and the frequency of the heterodyne signal is measured and converted into temperature. This produces the desired temperature-depth profile of the water enabling detection of internal waves generated by submarines.