Solid-state Multi-beam Scanning Single-photon Lidar System Based on Cascaded VIPA and SPAD Array

A solid-state multi-beam scanning single-photon light detection and ranging (Lidar) system based on virtually imaged phased array (VIPA) and single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array is proposed. Two cascaded VIPAs are used to generate 2D multiple light beams, to sweep in space by tuning laser wavelength. The system utilizes a SPAD array to detect the reflected photons, and realizes ranging based on direct time-of-flight (dToF) principle. In the demonstration experiment, sub-mrad-order angular resolution and centimeter-order ranging accuracy are realized. A target at 8.94 m is imaged with a pixel number of 80×443, which is 7 times that of the SPAD array with the help of multi-beam scanning.