Laser transmitter component, light detection and ranging system, and computer readable medium

A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system, comprising:

• a laser transmitter component and an optical component system, wherein the laser transmitter component comprises:
• a photonic integrated circuit substrate comprising a plurality of laser transmitters coupled to at least one optical output, the laser transmitter component configured to emit a light beam from one of the laser transmitters of the plurality of laser transmitters through the at least one optical output one laser transmitter at a time;
• a feedback circuit configured to determine at least one characteristic of the light beam emitted from the optical output and to provide the determined characteristic to a controller, wherein the controller is configured to control a plurality of optical switches, each one arranged between a respective one of the plurality of laser transmitters and the at least one optical output and couples the respective one of the plurality of laser transmitters to the at least one optical output;
• and
• the controller configured to control at least one of a temperature and an input electrical current of the laser transmitter emitting the light beam emitted from the optical output and to control at least one of a temperature and an input electrical current of at least one further laser transmitter of the laser transmitter component based on the determined characteristic corresponding to a predetermined characteristic of the light beam to be emitted from the optical output,
• wherein the optical component system is optically coupled to the output of the laser transmitter component and is configured to determine a signal difference between a light beam transmitted to a scene of the LIDAR system;
• and a light beam received from the scene.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored therein that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• determine at least one characteristic of a light beam emitted from an optical output of a laser transmitter component using a feedback circuit of the laser transmitter component, the laser transmitter component comprising a plurality of laser transmitters on a photonic integrated circuit substrate and coupled to at least one optical output, the laser transmitter component configured to emit a light beam from one of the laser transmitters of the plurality of laser transmitters through the at least one optical output one laser transmitter at a time, wherein the laser transmitter component further comprises a plurality of optical switches, each one arranged between a respective one of the plurality of laser transmitters to the at least one optical output to couple the respective one of the plurality of laser transmitters to the at least one optical output;
• determine, using the feedback circuit, at least one characteristic of the light beam emitted from the optical output and to provide the determined characteristic to a controller, wherein the controller comprises a switch driver circuit configured to control a plurality of optical switches, each one arranged between a respective one of the plurality of laser transmitters and the at least one optical output and couples the respective one of the plurality of laser transmitters to the at least one optical output;
• determine, using the controller, a characteristics deviation between the determined characteristic and a predefined characteristic;
• and
• control, using the controller, at least one of a temperature and an input electrical current of the laser transmitter emitting the light beam emitted from the optical output based on the determined characteristics deviation, and control, using the controller, at least one of a temperature and an input electrical current of at least one further laser transmitter of the laser transmitter component based on the determined characteristic corresponding to a predetermined characteristic of the light beam to be emitted from the optical output.