Multi-target two-photon dual-comb LiDAR

Abstract

By substituting two-photon cross-correlation in a wide-bandgap photodiode for the coherent gating conventionally used in dual-comb ranging, two-photon dual-comb LiDAR exchanges data-intensive interferometric acquisition for a single time-stamp from which an absolute distance can be inferred. Here, we report the application of two-photon dual-comb LiDAR to obtain real-time ranging to three independent targets with only a single silicon-photodiode detector. We show precisions of 197–255 nm (2 seconds averaging time) for static targets, and real-time simultaneous ranging to three dynamic targets driven by independent sinusoidal, saw-tooth and square waveforms. Finally, we demonstrate multi-target ranging to three points on a rigid body to provide simultaneous pitch and yaw angular measurements with precisions of 27.1 arcsec (130 µrad) on a 25 mm baseline.