Polarisation effects in lidar signals: determination, correction, and uncertainty calculation

Abstract

An analytical framework, based on the Müller-Stokes formalism, is presented, which enables us to determine the impact of polarisation effects of the lidar optics on the lidar signals and on the measured atmospheric linear depolarisation. Furthermore, the equations enable us to investigate the accuracy of the gain ratio calibration of depolarisation channels with different calibration setups, to correct some of the polarisation effects, and to perform uncertainty analyses.