Patent ID: 8253932

Claim:
A laser and corner cube system for determining the refractive-index structure parameter, the system comprising: a laser which emits a near-IR wavelength output beam, a 50/50 splitter, and a return meter subsystem; a target corner cube, which is located a distance of from about 300 to about 5000 meters from the laser; the near IR wavelength beam is directed to the 50/50 splitter, where 50% is directed to a beam dump, and the balance of the near-IR wavelength beam is directed to the target corner cube, such that the retroreflected return beam from the corner cube will be received along the same optical axis in a monostatic configuration; the return beam will impact the 50/50 splitter, which redirects 50% thereof through a receiving focusing lens, to a spectral filter, and then to a power meter resulting in monostatic measurement of the return power; wherein, the ratio of the area of the corner cube to that of the receiving focus lens is at least 1:2; and means to correlate the return power measurement to obtain the refractive-index structure parameter.