An optical scanning device includes an optical mode converter to change, in accordance with a change in wavelength of a light output from a light source or phase of the light output from the light source, a radiation direction of the light, and an actuator to rotate the optical mode converter about each of two shafts orthogonal to each other.

A holographic waveguide LIDAR having a transmitter waveguide coupled to a beam deflector and a receiver waveguide coupled to a detector module. The transmitter waveguide contains an array of grating elements for diffracting a scanned laser beam into a predefined angular ranges. The receiver waveguide contains an array of grating elements for diffracting light reflected from external points within a predefined angular range towards the detector module.

An optical scanner includes a light receiving unit, a reference light irradiating unit, and a light-receiving-side correcting unit. The light receiving unit includes an optical phased array that implements scanning by a light beam by individually controlling phases of a plurality of branched lights using a scanning phase amount. The reference light irradiating unit generates reference light and irradiate the reference light onto the light receiving unit. The light-receiving-side correcting unit estimates a phase shift amount that occurs in the plurality of branched lights as a result of distortion of a substrate on which the light receiving unit is mounted from a detection result of the light receiving unit onto which the reference light is incident, and sets a phase adjustment amount to be applied to the plurality of branched lights such that the estimated phase shift amount decreases.

Present implementations include a LIDAR system comprised of a scanning emitter and a static receiver having a detector pixel array. According to some aspects, the present embodiments reduce the physical dimensions of the detector array while maintaining effective optical performance of the system, thereby reducing overall cost, power and size of the system. In some embodiments, this is achieved by selectively emitting and receiving light in one or more wavelength bands corresponding to one or more sets of directions in which the light is emitted and received.

A light detection and ranging system includes at least one laser that emits a laser beam. A beam steering device steers beams emitted by the laser at a desired angle. A curved mirror reflects the steered beams at any desired angle or direction. A method of providing a light detection and ranging system is also provided.

Methods, systems, and devices for free-space optical communications. An aircraft includes a flat optical communication terminal on an external surface of the aircraft, the flat optical communication terminal being configured to communicate with a ground station via a free-space optical communication link.

A depth camera assembly (DCA) for depth sensing of a local area includes a structured light generator, an imaging device, and a controller. The structured light generator illuminates the local area with a structured light pattern. The structured light generator includes a programmable diffractive optical element (PDOE) that generates diffracted scanning beams using optical beams. The PDOE functions as a dynamic diffraction grating that dynamically adjusts diffraction of the optical beams to generate the diffracted scanning beams of different patterns. The diffracted scanning beams are projected as the structured light pattern into the local area, wherein the structured light pattern is dynamically adjustable based on the PDOE. The imaging device captures image(s) of at least a portion of the structured light pattern reflected from object(s) in the local area. The controller determines depth information for the object(s) based on the captured image(s).

Techniques for imaging such as lidar imaging are described where a plurality of light steering optical elements are moved (such as rotated) to align different light steering optical elements with (1) an optical path of emitted optical signals at different times and/or (2) an optical path of optical returns from the optical signals to an optical sensor at different times. Each light steering optical element corresponds to a zone within the field of view and provides (1) steering of the emitted optical signals incident thereon into its corresponding zone and/or (2) steering of the optical returns from its corresponding zone to the optical sensor so that movement of the light steering optical elements causes the imaging system to step through the zones on a zone-by-zone basis according to which of the light steering optical elements becomes aligned with the optical path of the emitted optical signals and/or the optical path of the optical returns over time.

Provided are spatial light modulators, methods of driving and manufacturing the same, and apparatuses including the spatial light modulators. The spatial light modulator according to an example embodiment includes a substrate, a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) layer stacked on one surface of the substrate, a cavity layer on the DBR layer, a pixel layer on the cavity layer and including a plurality of pixels, and a heat blocking member between the plurality of pixels to block heat transfer between the plurality of pixels, wherein a material layer having a lower thermal conductivity than the lowermost layer of the DBR layer is provided between the substrate and the DBR layer, and each of the plurality of pixels includes a plurality of active meta-patterns. In one example, the material layer, the DBR layer, and the cavity layer are each divided corresponding to the plurality of pixels, and the heat blocking member is provided between the divided material layers, between the divided DBR layers, and between the divided cavity layers.

The invention discloses a method for obtaining the geometrical and mechanical parameters of rock samples and a holographic scanning system thereof, wherein the system includes an observation mechanism, a multi-scale penetration mechanism, a grinding mechanism, a rock sample installation mechanism arranged on a three-axis precision motion platform, and an industrial computer controlling the operation mode of each mechanism of the platform Indentation/rotary penetration test, pulse echo signal acquisition, three-dimensional surface topography reconstruction, layer by layer grinding and repeated experiments are carried out. The geometric parameters and corresponding mechanical field parameters are obtained by spatial interpolation of the three-dimensional parameter lattice accumulated by several layers of single-layer rock parameters. The holographic scanning system and method can obtain the real spatial distribution of various media in rock samples. Combined with high performance numerical calculation method, it provides a more scientific method for the analysis of rock mechanical properties, failure and instability.