Towards a supercontinuum-based infrared lidar

Lidar signals were obtained for the first time in the near-infrared using the supercontinuum generated by the terawatt femtosecond laser of the Teramobile system. A signal up to 4 km in altitude, in the band 1-1.7 μm, was collected using a 2 m astronomical telescope. We observed a 10-fold enhancement of the infrared signal backscattered from the atmosphere compared with that expected using a previously measured laboratory spectrum. This suggests a more efficient frequency conversion into the infrared (typically 7% into the 1-1.5 μm band) under long-distance propagation conditions.