A coaxial lidar system includes one or more emitter channels and one or more sensor channels that share an optical module. A diffractive waveguide can be used to redirect received light from the shared optical module to the sensor channels.

A dual lens assembly positioned along an optical receive path within a LiDAR system is provided. The dual lens assembly is constructed to reduce a numerical aperture of a returned light pulse and reduce a walk-off error associated with one or more mirrors of the LiDAR system.

LiDAR system and methods discussed herein use a dispersion element or optic that has a refraction gradient that causes a light pulse to be redirected to a particular angle based on its wavelength. The dispersion element can be used to control a scanning path for light pulses being projected as part of the LiDAR's field of view. The dispersion element enables redirection of light pulses without requiring the physical movement of a medium such as mirror or other reflective surface, and in effect further enables at least portion of the LiDAR's field of view to be managed through solid state control. The solid state control can be performed by selectively adjusting the wavelength of the light pulses to control their projection along the scanning path.

The invention relates to a emitter device (8) for an optical detection apparatus (3) of a motor vehicle (1), which is designed to scan a surrounding region (4) of the motor vehicle (1) by means of a light beam (10), and which comprises a light source (13) for emitting the light beam (10) and a deflection unit (15), wherein the deflection unit (15) is designed to deflect the light beam (10) emitted onto the deflection unit (15) by the light source (13) at different scanning angles (α), wherein the deflection unit (15) comprises a freeform mirror (19). The freeform mirror (19) comprises at least two surface elements (20a, 20b) having different angles of inclination (21a, 21b) and is designed to reflect the light beam (10) in order to generate a predetermined setpoint field of view (16) of the emitter device (8) at predetermined setpoint values (−α3, −α2, −α1, α0, +α1, +α2, +α3) for the scanning angle (α), said setpoint values corresponding to the angles of inclination (21a, 21b). The invention additionally relates to an optical detection apparatus (3), a motor vehicle (1) comprising at least one optical detection apparatus (3), and to a method for generating a setpoint field of view (16) for an emitter device (8) of an optical detection apparatus (3) of a motor vehicle (1).

A vehicle, Lidar system and method of detecting an object is disclosed. The Lidar system includes a photonic chip, and a laser integrated into the photonic chip. The laser has a front facet located at a first aperture of the photonic chip to direct a transmitted light beam into free space. A reflected light beam that is a reflection of the transmitted light beam is received at the photonic chip and a parameter of the object is determined from a comparison of the transmitted light beam and the reflected light beam. A navigation system operates the vehicle with respect to the object based on a parameter of the object.

A vehicle, Lidar system and method of detecting an object is disclosed. The Lidar system includes a photonic chip having a laser, an on-chip frequency shifter, a combiner and a first set of photodetectors. The laser generates a transmitted light beam and an associated local oscillator beam within the photonic chip. The on-chip frequency shifter shifts a frequency of the local oscillator beam. The combiner combines a reflected light beam with the frequency-shifted local oscillator beam, wherein the reflected light beam is a reflection of the transmitted light beam from the object to generate a first electronic signal at the first set of photodetectors. A processor obtains a first measurement of a parameter of the object from the first electronic signal. The vehicle includes a navigation system for navigating the vehicle with respect to the object using at least the first measurement of the parameter.

A coaxial LiDAR system having a reduced adjustment complexity and reduced installation space includes a transmitter unit designed to emit LiDAR radiation, a receiver unit designed to detect incident LiDAR radiation, and an optical system for imaging LiDAR radiation, the radiation emitted by the transmitter unit and the radiation from the optical system incident upon the receiver unit being transmitted in collinear form, the emitting surface of the transmitter unit being situated outside of the focus of the imaging optical system.

Aspects of the present disclosure describe large scale steerable optical switched arrays that may be fabricated on a common substrate including many thousands or more emitters that may be arranged in a curved pattern at the focal plane of a lens thereby allowing the directional control of emitted light and selective reception of reflected light suitable for use in imaging, ranging, and sensing applications including accident avoidance.

A lidar system, preferably including one or more transmit modules, beam directors, and/or receive modules, and optionally including one or more processing modules. A method of lidar system operation, preferably including: emitting light beams, receiving reflected light beams, and/or analyzing data associated with the received light beams.

A distance measuring apparatus includes a light source to emit light beams, an optical scanner to scan the light beams output from the light source over a predetermined range, a light receiver to receive reflected light obtained as a result of the light beams being reflected by a target object, and to output detection signals, and a control circuit to measure a distance to the target object based on the detection signals. The light source including a plurality of light-emitting device groups that are arranged in a scan direction of a scan performed by the optical scanner, and the control circuit being to make the plurality of light-emitting device groups emit light at respective different timings in a single scan, and to measure the distance to the target object based on a sum of the detection signals.