Researchers have built a way that lidar could achieve higher-resolution detection of nearby fast-moving objects through mechanical control and modulation of light on a silicon chip.

The autonomous vehicle industry is exploring «frequency modulated continuous wave» (FMCW) lidar to solve this problem. Researchers have built a way that this type of lidar could achieve higher-resolution detection of nearby fast-moving objects through mechanical control and modulation of light on a silicon chip.

The work, published in Nature, was conducted by the OxideMEMS lab at Purdue University and the Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements at Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne (EPFL), a research institute and university in Lausanne, Switzerland.

FMCW lidar detects objects by scanning laser light from the top of an autonomous vehicle. A single laser beam splits into a comb of other wavelengths, called a microcomb, to scan an area. Light bounces off of an object and goes to the detector through an optical isolator or circulator, which ensures all reflected light ends up at the detector array.

What Purdue and EPFL researchers developed uses acoustic waves to enable faster tuning of these components, which could bring higher-resolution FMCW lidar detection of nearby objects.

The technology integrates microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) transducers made of aluminum nitride to modulate the microcomb at high frequencies ranging from megahertz to gigahertz. The optical isolator that the team developed as part of this process is further described in a paper published in Nature Communications.

Story Source: Materials provided by Purdue University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.