Doppler velocimeter and vibrometer FMCW LiDAR with Si photonic crystal beam scanner

In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a frequency-modulated continuous-wave light detection and ranging (LiDAR) with a Si photonic crystal beam scanner, simultaneously enabling scanning laser Doppler measurements. This nonmechanical solid-state device can reduce the size of conventional scanning laser Doppler vibrometers, making LiDAR a multimodal imaging sensor, which can measure the distributions of distance, velocity, and vibration frequency. We fabricated this device using Si photonics process and confirmed the expected operations. Distance and velocity resolutions were less than 15 mm and 19 mm/s, respectively. The detection limit of the vibration amplitude determined by the signal-to-noise ratio was 2.5 nm. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

This paper presents and demonstrates a nonmechanical solid-state LiDAR device that can perform scanning laser Doppler measurements and measure the distributions of distance, velocity, and vibration frequency simultaneously. The device fabricated using Si photonics process showed high resolution in distance and velocity, with a detection limit of vibration amplitude at 2.5 nm.