High-Accuracy Solid-State LiDAR Based on Optical Intensity Modulation and Coherent Detection

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a high-accuracy solid-state LiDAR based on optical intensity modulation and coherent detection. In the proposed system, a high-speed Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) is employed to perform optical intensity modulation for range detection, and a free-space optical coherent receiver constructed by an optical hybrid and four charge-coupled devices (CCDs) is used to perform coherent detection and to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. In this way, the depth information of the target objects is mapped to the grayscale images captured by the CCDs, and non-scanning 3D imaging with a high accuracy can be realized. In the experimental demonstration, the 3D image of a home-made target object is acquired by the proposed solid-state LiDAR, and the range detection accuracy is as high as 2.75 mm.