MULTI-WAVELENGTH PULSE STEERING IN LIDAR SYSTEMS
A LiDAR system includes a steering system and a light source. In some cases, the steering system includes a rotatable polygon with reflective sides and/or a dispersion optic. The light source produces light signals, such as light pulses. In some cases, the light sources products light pulses at different incident angles and/or different wavelengths. The steering system scans the light signals. In some cases, the light pulses are scanned based on the wavelength of the light pulses.
1 - 17 . (canceled)
18 . A light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system comprising:
a light source configured to produce a first plurality of pulses including a first pulse and a second plurality of pulses including a second pulse, wherein the first plurality of pulses have a first wavelength and the second plurality of pulses have a second wavelength different than the first wavelength; and
a pulse steering system having a dispersion optic configured to receive along a receive path the first pulse and the second pulse from the light source and to direct the first pulse along a first scan path and the second pulse along a second scan path different than the first scan path.
19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the pulse steering system further includes a rotatable polygon having a plurality of reflective sides.
20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the rotatable polygon has an axis of rotation parallel to a direction of dispersion of the dispersion optic.
21 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the pulse steering system further includes a scanning mirror.
22 . The system of claim 21 , wherein the scanning mirror is a mirror galvanometer.
23 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the dispersion optic is a prism or an optical grating.
24 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the light source includes a tunable seed laser.
25 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the light source includes a fiber configured to deliver the first plurality of light pulses and the second plurality of light pulses to the dispersion optic.
26 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the light source is further configured to produce a third plurality of pulses, wherein the third plurality of pulses have a third wavelength different than the first wavelength and the second wavelength.
27 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the light source is configured to provide light pulses of at least 50 different wavelengths.
28 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the light source is configured to provide light pulses of at least 300 different wavelengths.
29 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the light source is configured to provide light pulses having wavelengths that differ by less than 1 nm.