LIDAR pixel with active polarization control
AssigneeAurora Operations, Inc.
InventorsAndrew Steil Michaels, Sen Lin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) pixel includes a splitter, a grating coupler, and a phase shifter. The grating coupler is configured to emit a transmit beam that is based on a combination of a first portion of light and a second portion of light received from a laser. One or more first interconnects and one or more second interconnects couple the splitter to the grating coupler. The phase shifter is coupled to the one or more first interconnects and configured to vary a phase of the first portion of the light relative to a phase of the second portion of the light.
Claims20
A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system comprising:
- a laser configured to generate light;
- and
- one or more LIDAR pixels, wherein at least one of the one or more LIDAR pixels includes:
- a splitter configured to split the light into a first portion of the light and a second portion of the light;
- a grating coupler configured to emit a transmit beam that is based on a combination of the first portion of the light and the second portion of the light;
- one or more first interconnects configured to provide the first portion of the light from the splitter to the grating coupler;
- one or more second interconnects configured to provide the second portion of the light from the splitter to the grating coupler;
- and
- a phase shifter coupled to the one or more first interconnects and configured to vary a phase of the first portion of the light relative to a phase of the second portion of the light, wherein the phase of the first portion of the light is selected from a plurality of greater than two different phase values.
An autonomous vehicle control system for an autonomous vehicle, the autonomous vehicle control system comprising:
- a laser configured to generate light;
- a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) processing engine;
- and
- one or more LIDAR pixels coupled to the LIDAR processing engine, wherein at least one of the one or more LIDAR pixels includes:
- a splitter configured to split the light into a first portion of the light and a second portion of the light;
- a grating coupler configured to emit a transmit beam that is based on a combination of the first portion of the light and the second portion of the light;
- one or more first interconnects configured to provide the first portion of the light from the splitter to the grating coupler;
- one or more second interconnects configured to provide the second portion of the light from the splitter to the grating coupler;
- and
- a phase shifter coupled to the one or more first interconnects and configured to vary a phase of the first portion of the light relative to a phase of the second portion of the light, wherein the phase of the first portion of the light is selected from a plurality of greater than two different phase values.
An autonomous vehicle comprising:
- a laser configured to generate light;
- a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) processing engine;
- one or more LIDAR pixels coupled to the LIDAR processing engine, wherein at least one of the one or more LIDAR pixels includes:
- a splitter configured to split the light into a first portion of the light and a second portion of the light;
- a grating coupler configured to emit a transmit beam that is based on a combination of the first portion of the light and the second portion of the light;
- one or more first interconnects configured to provide the first portion of the light from the splitter to the grating coupler,
- one or more second interconnects configured to provide the second portion of the light from the splitter to the grating coupler;
- and
- a phase shifter coupled to the one or more first interconnects and configured to vary a phase of the first portion of the light relative to a phase of the second portion of the light, wherein the phase of the first portion of the light is selected from a plurality of greater than two different phase values;
- and
- one or more processors configured to control the autonomous vehicle based on a return signal received by the at least one of the one or more LIDAR pixels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.