Detection of laser light scattered from aerosols in a bright background using a balanced coherent receiver

We experimentally demonstrate the detection of laser light, which has been scattered from micron-scale atmospheric particulates, using a balanced heterodyne detection system with a non-cooperative tunable laser as a local oscillator source. The signal generated by the coherent detection receiver is provided to a signal processing algorithm designed to discriminate scattered laser light entering the receiver from the incoherent background and internal receiver noise. A receiver operating characteristic quantifies the performance of the receiver and demonstrates that optical coherence can be used as a parameter for laser detection even after the process of optical scattering from a disordered media.(c) 2023 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement