3D coherent single shot lidar imaging beyond coherence length

Abstract

Advancements in remote sensing and autonomous vehicle technologies made lidars equally important for unmanned objects alongside cameras. Therefore, precise 3D lidar imaging and point cloud generation have become important subjects. Although existing coherent lidar technologies provide precise imaging results, the spectral linewidth of the laser sources becomes a key limitation over long distances as it defines the maximum detection range. Here, we present long-distance 3D lidar imaging which removes the coherence length limitations and therefore the necessity of high-coherence laser sources. Mainly, we generate optical sidebands, by modulating a continuous wave (CW) laser source with multiple radio-frequency (RF) tones. Then, using our own post-processing and triangulation methods, we use the relative phase changes between the sidebands which are free from laser phase noise to determine the target distance. We prove that the multi-tone coherent Lidar technique can perform precise 3D imaging and point cloud generation of various targets at sub-10pW optical power reception and distances up to ∼12× beyond the coherence length of the CW laser employed in the lidar architecture. Overall, it is demonstrated that coherence length restriction is removed by the suggested method, which makes precise long-distance 3D lidar imaging possible, particularly for applications such as spacecraft and aerial coherent lidars.