Coaxial lidar system using a diffractive waveguide

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12535563-B2
Application number	US-202217819526-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 12, 2022
Priority date	Aug 12, 2021
Publication date	Jan 27, 2026
Grant date	Jan 27, 2026

Abstract

A coaxial lidar system includes one or more emitter channels and one or more sensor channels that share an optical module. A diffractive waveguide can be used to redirect received light from the shared optical module to the sensor channels.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A lidar system comprising:
an emitter channel including a light source configured to produce light at an operating wavelength and a first micro-optic element configured to collimate the light produced by the light source; a sensor channel including a photosensor, the sensor channel disposed at a lateral distance from the emitter channel; a second micro-optic element configured to diverge the collimated light from the first micro-optic element and configured to collimate light received from an environment; and a diffractive waveguide disposed between the first micro-optic element and the second micro-optic element, the diffraction waveguide including a diffraction grating that redirects received light having the operating wavelength from the second micro-optic element toward the sensor channel.

2 . The lidar system of claim 1 wherein the diffractive waveguide has a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface and wherein the diffractive waveguide includes:
a first diffraction grating disposed at the first surface and configured to redirect received light having the operating wavelength from the second micro-optic element into the diffractive waveguide at an angle that produces total internal reflection at the second surface; and
a second redirection component positioned to redirect received light that has reflected off the second surface in a direction out of the diffractive waveguide and into the sensor channel.

3 . The lidar system of claim 2 wherein the first diffraction grating includes a non-diffractive opening sized and positioned such that the collimated light from the emitter channel passes through the non-diffractive opening.

4 . The lidar system of claim 2 wherein the first surface is oriented toward the second micro-optic element and the first diffraction grating is a transmissive grating.

5 . The lidar system of claim 2 wherein the first surface is oriented toward the first micro-optic element and the first diffraction grating is a reflective grating.

6 . The lidar system of claim 2 wherein the second redirection component includes a second diffraction grating.

7 . The lidar system of claim 2 wherein the second redirection component includes a mirror positioned at an angle to the first surface.

8 . The lidar system of claim 1 further comprising an aperture layer disposed between the first micro-optic element and the diffractive waveguide, the aperture layer having an opening to admit light output by the first micro-optic element into the diffractive waveguide.

9 . The lidar system of claim 1 further comprising:
a bulk optic module disposed between the second micro-optic element and the environment such that the emitter channel and the sensor channel have a common optical axis in the bulk optic module.

10 . A lidar system comprising:
an array of emitter channels, each emitter channel including a light source configured to produce light at an operating wavelength and a first micro-optic element configured to collimate the light produced by the light source; an array of sensor channels arranged such that each sensor channel corresponds to a different one of the emitter channels, each sensor channel including a light detector; an array of second micro-optic elements, each second micro-optic element configured to diverge the collimated light from a corresponding one of the emitter channels and to collimate light received from an environment; and a diffractive waveguide disposed between the first micro-optic elements and the array of second micro-optic elements, the diffraction waveguide including a diffraction grating that redirects received light having the operating wavelength from the array of second micro-optic elements toward the array of sensor channels.

11 . The lidar system of claim 10 further comprising:
a bulk optic module disposed between the array of second micro-optic elements and the environment such that the emitter channels and the sensor channels have a common optical axis in the bulk optic module.

12 . The lidar system of claim 10 wherein the diffractive waveguide has a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface and wherein the diffractive waveguide includes:
a first diffraction grating disposed at the first surface and configured to redirect received light having the operating wavelength from the array of second micro-optic elements into the diffractive waveguide at an angle that produces total internal reflection at the second surface; and
a second redirection component positioned to redirect received light that has reflected off the second surface in a direction out of the diffractive waveguide and into the sensor channels.

13 . The lidar system of claim 12 wherein the first diffraction grating includes an array of non-diffractive openings sized and positioned such that the collimated light from each of the emitter channels passes through one of the non-diffractive openings.

14 . The lidar system of claim 12 wherein the first surface is oriented toward the second micro-optic element and the first diffraction grating is a transmissive grating.

15 . The lidar system of claim 12 wherein the first surface is oriented toward the first micro-optic element and the first diffraction grating is a reflective grating.

16 . The lidar system of claim 12 wherein the second redirection component includes a second diffraction grating.

17 . The lidar system of claim 12 wherein the second redirection component includes a mirror positioned at an angle to the first surface.

18 . The lidar system of claim 10 wherein the array of emitter channels and the array of sensor channels are formed on the same substrate.

19 . The lidar system of claim 10 wherein the array of emitter channels and the array of sensor channels are one-dimensional arrays.

20 . The lidar system of claim 10 wherein the array of emitter channels and the array of sensor channels are two-dimensional arrays.

Assignees

• Ouster Inc

Inventors

• Borden Michael Bryan

Classifications

• G02B6/10

  of the optical waveguide type (G02B6/02, G02B6/24 take precedence; devices or arrangements for the control of light by electric, magnetic, electro-magnetic or acoustic means G02F1/00; transferring the modulation of modulated light G02F2/00; optical logic elements G02F3/00; optical analogue/digital converters G02F7/00) · CPC title

• G02B27/30

  Collimators · CPC title

• G01S17/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S7/4861

  Circuits for detection, sampling, integration or read-out · CPC title

• G01S7/4816

  of receivers alone · CPC title