Concept for maritime near-surface surveillance using water Raman scattering

We discuss a maritime surveillance and detection concept based on Raman scattering of water molecules. Using a range-gated scanning lidar that detects Raman scattered photons from water, the absence or change of signal indicates the presence of a non-water object. With sufficient spatial resolution, a two-dimensional outline of the object can be generated by the scanning lidar. Because Raman scattering is an inelastic process with a relatively large wavelength shift for water, this concept avoids the often problematic elastic scattering for objects at or very close to the water surface or from the bottom surface for shallow waters. The maximum detection depth for this concept is limited by the attenuation of the excitation and return Raman light in water. If excitation in the UV is used, fluorescence can be used for discrimination between organic and non-organic objects. In this paper, we present a lidar model for this concept and discuss results of proof-of-concept measurements. Using published cross section values, the model and measurements are in reasonable agreement and show that a sufficient number of Raman photons can be generated for modest lidar parameters to make this concept useful for near-surface detection.