UKRI-1117 - Chilbolton Observatory Raman Lidar

STFC wish to procure an atmospheric Raman lidar system for installation at STFC Chilbolton Observatory. The system should have the following features, which are expanded further in subsequent sections: 1. It should be housed in a customised standard 20 foot ISO container with climate control. The container must be weatherproof and lightproof, except for the windows designed for laser beam transmission. It must be IP66 compliant. 2. It must have a design transmitting at a minimum, a single wavelength of 355 nm and recording elastic and inelastic (Raman-scattered at 387 nm) backscattering coefficient, and linear depolarisation ratio. 3. It must meet ACTRIS (Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research Infrastructure) requirements for a single wavelength system. 4. The instrument and container must be designed in such a way that it is straightforward to upgrade to transmit 532 nm and 1064 nm for the measurement of elastic and inelastic (Raman) backscattering coefficient and linear depolarisation ratio and to measure water vapour profiles using the 355nm beam without major modifications to the structure. It is anticipated that the measurement of linear depolarisation ratio at 1064 nm will require the use of a 2nd laser in order to ensure sufficient polarisation purity, and possibly a 2nd receiver. There should therefore be adequate space in the current design to allow this upgrade, unless a method not requiring this extra hardware is proposed and justified. 5. Full overlap of transmitted beam and receiver field of view must be achieved no higher than 300 metres with the capability to add lower range observations at a future date. This may require there to be sufficient space to accommodate the additional hardware (such as telescope, receiver optics, detectors). 6. Start-of-operation setup and ongoing alignment procedures must be automated as far as possible. 7. It should be reliable for routine operation. Full details can be found within the supporting appendices on the Delta e-Sourcing system. Additional information: To respond to this opportunity please click here: https://ukri.delta-esourcing.com/respond/295242HVC4