Phase-multiplied interferometry via cavity dynamics for resolution-enhanced coherent ranging

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Autonomous Systems Technology
• Metrology

Background:

• Coherent Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is crucial for autonomous systems, providing high precision and immunity to ambient light.
• Current LiDAR systems face limitations in resolution, creating a trade-off between performance and complexity.
• Advanced applications in research and manufacturing demand higher resolution than currently achievable.

Purpose of the Study:

• To overcome the intrinsic resolution limitations of current LiDAR systems.
• To present a novel cavity dynamics-enabled approach for enhancing ranging resolution.
• To achieve significant resolution improvement without increasing system complexity.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing optical resonators to actively enhance ranging resolution via phase multiplication.
• Injecting target-scattered light into an optical resonator to induce periodic laser frequency modulation.
• Generating interference harmonics to multiply phase sensitivity.

Main Results:

• Observed excitation of up to the 13th-order harmonic, demonstrating effective phase multiplication.
• Achieved over 10 times resolution enhancement for ranging without physical modulation extensions.
• Demonstrated high-precision ranging with standard deviation in the tens of micrometers due to controlled phase noise.
• Improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) through laser feedback sensitivity.

Conclusions:

• The developed LiDAR system offers enhanced resolution and precision through cavity dynamics and phase multiplication.
• The technology enables low photon consumption, low-cost implementation, and significant SNR improvement.
• This advancement promises new capabilities for a wide range of applications requiring high-resolution ranging.