Airborne Single Longitudinal Mode UV Laser Tailored for Clear Air Turbulence Detection

Clear air turbulence (CAT) repeatedly leads to unexpected turbulence encounters during flights with sometimes severe injuries of passengers. Several flights reportedly experienced CAT encounters leading to injuries and even one death in 2024. In the years since satellite measurement began, an increase of about 50 % in CAT events has been observed from 1979 to 2020 [1] with prospects rising even more [2]. Considering there currently is no direct way to measure CAT during flight it is apparent why control systems capable of alleviating the loads imposed on the aircraft fuselage by CAT increase in relevance. This also includes laser systems with a tailored parameter set.