Lidar system with input optical element

A lidar system comprising:

• a light source configured to emit (i) local-oscillator light and (ii) pulses of light, wherein each emitted pulse of light is coherent with a corresponding portion of the local-oscillator light, and wherein the light source comprises:
• a seed laser diode configured to produce a seed optical signal and the local-oscillator light;
• and
• a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) configured to amplify temporal portions of the seed optical signal to produce the emitted pulses of light, wherein each amplified temporal portion of the seed optical signal corresponds to one of the emitted pulses of light;
• a receiver comprising one or more detectors configured to detect the local-oscillator light and a received pulse of light, the received pulse of light comprising light from one of the emitted pulses of light that is scattered by a target located a distance from the lidar system, wherein the local-oscillator light and the received pulse of light are coherently mixed together at the receiver;
• a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) comprising an input optical element configured to receive the received pulse of light and couple the received pulse of light into an input optical waveguide, wherein:
• the input optical waveguide is one of one or more optical waveguides of the PIC configured to convey the local-oscillator light and the received pulse of light to the one or more detectors of the receiver;
• and
• the input optical element comprises a tapered optical waveguide comprising (i) an input end configured to receive the portion of the scattered optical signal and (ii) an output end configured to couple the portion of the scattered optical signal into the input optical waveguide, wherein:
• a width of the tapered optical waveguide decreases from the input end to the output end;
• and
• the tapered optical waveguide has a taper angle of less than λ/(W·n), wherein λ is a wavelength of the emitted optical signal, W is a width of the tapered optical waveguide at the input end, and n is a refractive index of the tapered optical waveguide;
• and
• a processor configured to determine the distance from the lidar system to the target based at least in part on a time-of-arrival for the received pulse of light.

A vehicle comprising:

• a lidar system configured to configured to provide information about an environment through which the vehicle is moving, the information comprising a distance to a target located within the environment, the lidar system comprising:
• a light source configured to emit an optical signal;
• a receiver comprising one or more detectors configured to detect a portion of the emitted optical signal scattered by the target;
• a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) comprising an input optical element configured to receive the portion of the scattered optical signal and couple the portion of the scattered optical signal into an input optical waveguide, wherein:
• the input optical waveguide is one of one or more optical waveguides of the PIC configured to convey the portion of the scattered optical signal to the one or more detectors of the receiver;
• and
• the input optical element comprises a tapered optical waveguide comprising (i) an input end configured to receive the portion of the scattered optical signal and (ii) an output end configured to couple the portion of the scattered optical signal into the input optical waveguide, wherein:
• a width of the tapered optical waveguide decreases from the input end to the output end;
• and
• the tapered optical waveguide has a taper angle of less than λ/(W·n), wherein λ is a wavelength of the emitted optical signal, W is a width of the tapered optical waveguide at the input end, and n is a refractive index of the tapered optical waveguide;
• a processor configured to determine the distance from the lidar system to the target based on a round-trip time for the portion of the scattered optical signal to travel from the lidar system to the target and back to the lidar system;
• and
• a vehicle navigation system configured to:
• receive the information about the environment through which the vehicle is moving;
• and
• provide instructions to one or more operational subsystems of the vehicle to assist in guiding the vehicle through the environment.