Abstract

Non-mechanical LiDAR systems have attracted extensive research interests due to their advantages of robustness and high beam-steering speed. Recently, spectral scanning has emerged as a promising solid-state beam-steering method, which combines dispersive elements with frequency-swept laser sources to perform ultrafast beam-steering. However, swept light sources used in LiDAR systems, such as semiconductor lasers and supercontinuum sources, are usually suffering from low sweep rate, bulky and high-cost that severely hinder the development of spectral-scanning LiDAR. Here, we propose a non-mechanical spectral-scanning frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) LiDAR system based on a simple compact tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). The fast-swept VCSEL together with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology is employed for high-speed beam-steering. Millimeter-level ranging accuracy and a lateral resolution of 0.286° with an overall depth voxel acquisition rate of 128 kHz are achieved experimentally.

Solid-state FMCW LiDAR with two-dimensional spectral scanning using a virtually imaged phased array

Zhi Li, Zihan Zang, Yaqi Han, Lican Wu, and H. Y. Fu
Opt. Express 29(11) 16547-16562 (2021)

Swept Source Lidar: simultaneous FMCW ranging and nonmechanical beam steering with a wideband swept source

Masayuki Okano and Changho Chong
Opt. Express 28(16) 23898-23915 (2020)

12 Gbit/s indoor optical wireless communication system with ultrafast beam-steering using tunable VCSEL

Lican Wu, Yaqi Han, Zhi Li, Yuan Zhang, and H. Y. Fu
Opt. Express 30(9) 15049-15059 (2022)

High-speed frequency-domain terahertz coherence tomography

Ji Sang Yahng, Choon-Su Park, Hwi Don Lee, Chang-Seok Kim, and Dae-Su Yee
Opt. Express 24(2) 1053-1061 (2016)

Monolithic coherent LABS lidar based on an integrated transceiver array

Chao Li, Kan Wu, Xianyi Cao, Guangjin Zhang, Tianyi Li, Zheng Deng, Mingchao Chang, Yanan Wang, Xinwan Li, and Jianping Chen
Opt. Lett. 47(11) 2907-2910 (2022)