Reduction of phase-induced intensity noise in a fiber-based coherent Doppler lidar using polarization control

Optimization of signal-to-noise ratio is an important aspect in the design of optical heterodyne detection systems such as a coherent Doppler lidar (CDL). In a CDL, optimal performance is achieved when the noise in the detector signal is dominated by local oscillator shot-noise. Most modern CDL systems are built using rugged and cost-efficient fiber optic components. Unfortunately, leakage signals such as residual reflections inherent within fiber components (e.g. circulator) can introduce phase-induced intensity noise (PIIN) to the Doppler spectrum in a CDL. Such excess noise may be a few orders of magnitude above the shot-noise level within the relevant CDL frequency bandwidth--corrupting the measurement of typically weak backscattered signals. In this study, observation of PIIN in a fiber-based CDL with a master-oscillator power-amplifier tapered semiconductor laser source is reported. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrate what we believe is a newly proposed method using a simple polarization scheme to reduce PIIN by more than an order of magnitude.