Chaotic microcomb inertia-free parallel ranging

Ever growing pixel acquisition rates in the fields of augmented reality, autonomous driving and robotics have increased interest in solid state beam scanning without moving parts. Modern photonic integrated laser ranging advances towards passive beam steering solutions. Recently demonstrated imagers based on focal plane arrays, nanophotonic metasurfaces, and optical phased arrays enable unprecedented pixel resolution and measurement speed. However, parallelization of >100 lasers and detectors - successfully implemented in commercial time-of-flight sensors - has not been widely adopted for passive scanning approaches. Here, we show both inertia-free and parallel light detection and ranging (LiDAR) with microresonator frequency combs. We used 40 independent channels of a continuously scanned microresonator frequency comb operated in the chaotic regime in combination with optical dispersive elements to perform random modulation LiDAR with 2D passive beam steering.

Automated summary

The increasing pixel acquisition rates in augmented reality, autonomous driving, and robotics have sparked interest in solid state beam scanning without moving parts. Recent advancements in photonic integrated laser ranging have enabled unprecedented resolution and speed with passive beam steering solutions. However, parallelization of over 100 lasers and detectors, commonly used in commercial time-of-flight sensors, has not been widely adopted for passive scanning approaches. In this study, researchers demonstrated inertia-free and parallel light detection and ranging (LiDAR) using microresonator frequency combs, achieving 2D passive beam steering with random modulation.