Yifan Qi, Xingyu Jia, Jingyi Wang, Weiwei Yang, Yihan Miao, Xinlun Cai, Guanhao Wu, Yang Li
{"title":"1.79-GHz acquisition rate absolute distance measurement with lithium niobate electro-optic comb","authors":"Yifan Qi, Xingyu Jia, Jingyi Wang, Weiwei Yang, Yihan Miao, Xinlun Cai, Guanhao Wu, Yang Li","doi":"10.1038/s41467-025-58018-8","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>AI-empowered autonomous vehicles must sense the fast-changing three-dimensional environments with high speed and precision. However, the tradeoff between acquisition rate and non-ambiguity range prevents most LiDARs from achieving high-speed absolute distance measurement. Here we demonstrate a lithium niobate electro-optic comb-enabled ultrafast absolute distance measurement method — repetition rate-modulated frequency comb (RRMFC). We achieved an integrated lithium-niobate phase modulator with a half-wave voltage of 1.47 V, leading to over 50 sidebands and a repetition rate can be tuned over 12 GHz in 4 μs. Leveraging these unique features, RRMFC can coherently measure the distance by detecting interference peaks in the time domain, leading to acquisition rates up to 1.79 GHz and a large non-ambiguity range. This single-channel acquisition rate is over 4 orders of magnitude higher than the state-of-the-art absolute distance measurement system. Thus, RRMFC-based LiDAR allows autonomous vehicles to sense the fine details of a fast-changing environment using a single laser.</p>","PeriodicalId":19066,"journal":{"name":"Nature Communications","volume":"96 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature Communications","FirstCategoryId":"103","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58018-8","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
AI-empowered autonomous vehicles must sense the fast-changing three-dimensional environments with high speed and precision. However, the tradeoff between acquisition rate and non-ambiguity range prevents most LiDARs from achieving high-speed absolute distance measurement. Here we demonstrate a lithium niobate electro-optic comb-enabled ultrafast absolute distance measurement method — repetition rate-modulated frequency comb (RRMFC). We achieved an integrated lithium-niobate phase modulator with a half-wave voltage of 1.47 V, leading to over 50 sidebands and a repetition rate can be tuned over 12 GHz in 4 μs. Leveraging these unique features, RRMFC can coherently measure the distance by detecting interference peaks in the time domain, leading to acquisition rates up to 1.79 GHz and a large non-ambiguity range. This single-channel acquisition rate is over 4 orders of magnitude higher than the state-of-the-art absolute distance measurement system. Thus, RRMFC-based LiDAR allows autonomous vehicles to sense the fine details of a fast-changing environment using a single laser.
期刊介绍:
Nature Communications, an open-access journal, publishes high-quality research spanning all areas of the natural sciences. Papers featured in the journal showcase significant advances relevant to specialists in each respective field. With a 2-year impact factor of 16.6 (2022) and a median time of 8 days from submission to the first editorial decision, Nature Communications is committed to rapid dissemination of research findings. As a multidisciplinary journal, it welcomes contributions from biological, health, physical, chemical, Earth, social, mathematical, applied, and engineering sciences, aiming to highlight important breakthroughs within each domain.