The problem of overlap factor (OVF) computation and its near-range sensitivity for medium-size aperture ( f ∕ 10 , f ∕ 11 ) bi-axial tropospheric lidar systems using ray-tracing sim- ulation software is presented. The method revisits both detector and fiber optics coupling alter- natives at the telescope focal-plane along with the insertion of a field lens. A sensitivity analysis is carried out as a function of laser divergence, field lens, and detector/fiber positions, detector size, and the fiber ’ s core diameter and numerical aperture. The ray-tracing approach presented here is straightforward and a comparatively much simpler solution than analytical-based meth- ods. Parametric simulations are carried out to show that both approaches are coincident. Insertion of a field lens proves to be an elegant and low sensitivity solution for OVF enhancement, par- ticularly, in the near-range of the lidar

Peer Reviewed