Chirp-pulse-compression three-dimensional lidar imager with fiber optics

Pearson, GN; Ridley, KD; Willetts, DV

Abstract

A coherent three-dimensional (angle-angle-range) lidar imager using a master-oscillator-power-amplifier concept and operating at a wavelength of 1.5 μm with chirp-pulse compression is described. A fiber-optic delay line in the local oscillator path enables a single continuous-wave semiconductor laser source with a modulated drive waveform to generate both the constant-frequency local oscillator and the frequency chirp. A portion of this chirp is gated out and amplified by a two-stage fiber amplifier. The digitized return signal was compressed by cross correlating it with a sample of the outgoing pulse. In this way a 350-ns, 10-μJ pulse with a 250-MHz frequency sweep is compressed to a width of approximately 8 ns. With a 25-mm output aperture, the lidar has been used to produce three-dimensional images of hard targets out to a range of approximately 2 km with near-diffraction-limited angular resolution and submeter range resolution.

Citation

Pearson, G., Ridley, K., & Willetts, D. (2005). Chirp-pulse-compression three-dimensional lidar imager with fiber optics. Applied Optics, 44(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.44.000257

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 10, 2005
• Deposit Date: Oct 9, 2007
• Journal: Applied Optics
• Print ISSN: 1559-128X
• Publisher: Optical Society of America
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 44
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 257-265
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.44.000257
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/AO.44.000257