Lidar techniques for a SNSPD-based measurement

LIDAR, Light detection and ranging, is a remote measurement technique used to investigate the properties of the atmosphere. The detectors used in these measurements play a crucial role in the determination of the reached resolution, the maximum reached range and the acquisition time. Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPD) have high performance (high detection efficiency, low timing jitter, low dead time, high maximum counting rate, good SNR) also at infrared wavelengths and they are good candidates to improve the quality of Lidar signals in IR region. To realize a SNSPD - based Lidar measurement, a study of the main Lidar techniques is presented in this work.