Sizing the field of view of a detector to improve operation of a lidar system

A method in a lidar system for scanning a field of regard (FOR) of the lidar system, the lidar system configured to detect one or more targets located up to RMAX meters away from the lidar system, the method comprising:

• emitting, by a light source of the lidar system, pulses of light along a light-source field of view (FOV);
• scanning, by a scanner of the lidar system, the light-source FOV across the FOR of the lidar system, comprising directing the pulses of light along a forward scan direction and subsequently along a reverse scan direction, wherein each of the pulses of light illuminates a respective instantaneous light-source FOV which corresponds to the light-source FOV at a time when the pulse of light is emitted;
• detecting, by a receiver of the lidar system, the pulses of light scattered by the one or more targets, the receiver including a detector, comprising three or more detector elements arranged with a first high gain detector element adjacent to a low gain detector element adjacent to a second high gain detector element, with a detector FOV that corresponds to an angular region over which the detector is configured to receive scattered light, the detector including an avalanche photodiode (APD) configured to produce an electrical-current pulse corresponding to the scattered light from the first pulse of light and the APD comprising a transparent electrode configured to transmit the first pulse of light to an active region of the APD;
• and
• causing, by the scanner, the detector FOV to move relative to the instantaneous light-source FOV along each of the scan directions so that an amount of overlap between an instantaneous light-source FOV associated with a first pulse of light and the detector FOV is different at two or more instances of time in an interval between (i) when the first pulse of light is emitted and (ii) when scattered light from the first pulse of light returns from a first target of the one or more targets, the first target located RMAX meters away.