Lidar and laser measurement techniques

A dual-sideband frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) LiDAR system comprising:

• a modulated light generation unit, comprising:
• an electro-optic modulator configured to modulate a continuous wavelength diode laser carrier to simultaneously generate an up-chirped sideband and a down-chirped sideband;
• a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) configured to generate a radiofrequency (RF) signal for frequency modulation of the continuous wavelength diode laser carrier and suppress a carrier frequency of the continuous wavelength diode laser carrier;
• a fiber coupler configured to split the up-chirped sideband and the down-chirped sideband into a first split light beam and a second split light beam;
• and
• an optical amplifier configured to generate a boosted light beam from the first split light beam;
• a transceiver unit configured to receive the boosted light beam, direct the boosted light beam to a scanner, expand the boosted light beam, polarize the expanded and boosted light beam using transverse electric (TE) polarization via a half wave plate (HWP) and receive a received signal reflected from the scanner, wherein the scanner comprises a galvo mirror for vertical steering and a rotating octagon mirror for horizontal steering;
• and
• a control and processing unit comprising a balanced photodetector (BPD), a DAQ card, a processor configured to control one or more parameters of the scanner, the control and processing unit further comprising a waveform generator, and a signal generator.