High Resolution Parallel Coherent Laser Ranging Using an EO Frequency Comb

Frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) light detection and ranging (lidar) maps distance to frequency using coherent detection, which is not susceptible to stray light. The combination of the FMCW lidar and a Kerr frequency comb with a 50 GHz repetition rate enables massively parallel ranging. The resolution of FMCW lidar depends on the sweep bandwidth. However, the Kerr frequency comb can only achieve a narrow sweep bandwidth due to the cavity limitation. Here, we demonstrate a massively parallel ranging FMCW lidar based on an electro-optical frequency comb. Using the electro-optical frequency comb, we perform a 31-channel FMCW lidar with a 9.7 GHz sweep frequency bandwidth and achieve a high resolution of 1.54 cm. This approach allows for massively accurate ranging for fast three-dimensional imaging.