A combined diffraction and geometrical optics approach for lidar overlap function computation

We propose a new approach for computation of lidar overlap function, in which light propagation from a lidar to the atmosphere is analyzed with diffraction theory, while the backward propagation is treated with geometrical optics. In this approach, the beam pattern in the atmosphere is represented as a diffraction pattern, and the return beam pattern on the focal plane is built by ray-tracing technique to calculate the overlap function as a ratio of the intensity entering the detector surface to the total intensity on the focal plane. The proposed approach in this paper provides more accurate overlap function of a lidar system.