Advances in LiDAR Technology: Innovations, Applications, and Integration

A continuous and non-modulated light source with oscillating second-order correlation enables LIDAR measurements with infinite range and picosecond accuracy.

The Antarctic winter phytoplankton production is experiencing an underestimated acceleration based on the spaceborne LiDAR. This trend is linked to the declining sea ice, highlighting the Southern Ocean’s escalating role in the global carbon cycle.

Slope inspection is crucial for preventing landslide hazards. In this work, authors develop a LiDAR-based quadrotor with assisted obstacle avoidance, achieving efficient slope inspection under dense vegetation.

Most LiDARs have an intrinsic tradeoff between acquisition rate and non-ambiguity range. Researchers demonstrated a LiDAR called RRMFC based on an integrated lithium niobate frequency comb, leading to a 1.79 GHz acquisition rate and infinite non-ambiguity range.

The massive data stream and fast processing capability is essential for light detection and ranging (LiDAR). Here the authors demonstrate a silicon integrated optical phased array combined with optical frequency microcomb for parallel LiDAR system.

Aerosol properties are predicted with unprecedented accuracy by machine learning algorithms using only lidar observations and reanalysis data as predictors.

Researchers demonstrate the high-coherence parallelization in integrated photonics. Their high-coherence, high-power, multiwavelength light source drives a silicon photonic link with a 60 Tbit/s data rate and significantly reduces digital signal processing consumption.

Sensitivity to noise is currently an obstacle to the use of quantum imaging techniques in real-world scenarios. Here, exploiting non-local cancellation of dispersion on time-frequency entangled photons, the authors show a 43dB improvement in resilience to noise for imaging protocols towards a quantum LiDAR.

The researchers showcase a photonic-electronic FMCW LiDAR source composed of a micro-electronic based high-voltage arbitrary waveform generator, a photonic circuit-based tunable Vernier laser with piezoelectric actuators, and an erbium-doped waveguide amplifier.

Bablich and colleagues report an Intrinsic Photomixing Detector (IPD), a cost-effective amorphous silicon device, enabling high-bandwidth, long-distance, and high accuracy Time-of-Flight optical ranging even in low light conditions. The device allows for large-scale integration on silicon or flexible platforms.

This Review highlights how terrestrial laser scanning is transforming forest research by enabling highly detailed 3D measurements of trees, supporting applications in forest ecology, carbon monitoring, and biodiversity assessment.

We introduce a framework for the design of photonic integrated laser sources for FMCW LiDAR, evaluating trade-offs in key laser metrics such as linewidth, chirp linearity and rate, based on laser-system co-design metrics. We review the main performance requirements for mid-range applications, with the goal of guiding ongoing research and commercial development.