Laser Radar Society of Japan (LRSJ)

   Laser radar (lidar) attracted attention of researchers just after the invention of laser in 1960, and the researches on lidars for measuring the atmosphere, ocean, terrain and for satellite ranging have evolved. In particular, lidar methods enabled observations of three-dimensional distributions of atmospheric constituents and the structure of the atmosphere that were not possible with microwave radars and passive optical methods.

   The researches on lidars were started also in Japan at the same time as other industrialized countries. In1972, the first Laser Radar Symposium was held in Sendai (Sakunami hot spring), and researchers in the related fields gathered. At that time, the Laser Radar Society of Japan (LRSJ) was founded, and Professor Humio Inaba (Tohoku University) was elected as the president of the society. After that time, the symposium is held regularly at an interval of one to one and a half years. In 1974, LRSJ hosted the Sixth International Laser Radar Conference (6th ILRC) in Sendai.

   In the period of high economic growth in 1970s, environmental pollution problems frequently occurred, and lidars for measuring air pollution were studied very actively. The activity of LRSJ and the Laser Radar Symposium also boomed. From the 12th symposium in 1988, the name of the symposium was changed to the Laser Sensing Symposium in order to widen the area covered in the symposium. In 1994, the 17th ILRC was held in Sendai. In 1999, the International Laser Sensing Symposium (ILSS’99) was held in Fukui in conjunction with the 20th Laser Sensing Symposium. In 2006, the 23rd ILRC was held in Nara.
   Most of lidar related researches conducted in Japan have been presented in the Laser Sensing Symposium (LSS), and we think the proceedings of LSS are useful for understanding the history of lidar researches in Japan. On this web page, we archive all available LSS proceedings in digital form, including handwritten papers in the early days. We also plan to archive related materials such as photographs and drawings on this web site as much as possible.