Solid-State Integrated Lidar Using Orthogonally Polarized Beams and Wavelength Division Multiplexed Components

Abstract

In a solid-state Lidar, it is possible to integrate all essential components into a silicon chip. Through wavelength tuning, Lidar's beam steering can be implemented simply and effectively. However, a large wavelength tuning range is usually required to increase the steering angle, which is limited by the waveguide dispersion and material dispersion. In silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide, we design a novel solid-state Lidar utilizing two orthogonal polarizations. The outputs diffract from two grating couplers. Two diffracted beams can be combined into a seamless beam to effectively double the beam-steering angle. Furthermore, a novel low-priced high-resolution Lidar is designed by combining outputs of two grating couplers with orthogonal polarizations. Laser diode array and photo diode array combined through coarse wavelength division multiplexed (CWDM) can be used in solid-state Lidar as well.