Flash and point-and-shoot hybrid lidar by DMD-based solid-state diffractive beam and image steering.

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Sensor Technology
• Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Background:

• Solid-state lidar is crucial for advanced applications but faces trade-offs between field of view (FOV), range, and resolution.
• Traditional flash lidar struggles with limited pixels, hindering performance in key areas.
• Achieving wide FOV, high resolution, and high frame rates simultaneously in solid-state lidar remains a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel solid-state lidar architecture that decouples the trade-off between FOV, range, and resolution.
• To demonstrate a hybrid lidar system combining flash and point-and-shoot functionalities.
• To enable high-performance solid-state lidar for applications requiring wide coverage and detailed imaging.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a hybrid optical architecture integrating flash lidar and point-and-shoot lidar principles.
• Utilized a digital micromirror device (DMD) for diffractive beam and image steering.
• Employed a time-multiplexing method with a low-pixel-count silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) detector (32x32 pixels).

Main Results:

• Achieved a wide field of view (FOV) of 49.5 degrees.
• Maintained a high angular resolution of 0.22 degrees.
• Reached an impressive frame rate exceeding 142 frames per second (fps).

Conclusions:

• The demonstrated hybrid lidar architecture successfully overcomes the limitations of traditional solid-state lidar.
• This approach enables simultaneous achievement of wide FOV, high resolution, and high frame rates with a low-pixel-count detector.
• The novel system offers a promising solution for advanced lidar applications in autonomous systems and beyond.