Polarization Filtering in LiDAR System

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

• a light emitter;
• and
• a light detector comprising a photodetector, wherein the light detector is configured to receive and detect one or more characteristics of light emitted by the light emitter;
• and
• a polarization filter, wherein the polarization filter is configured to limit polarization of light entering the LiDAR system to a single polarization and thus filter retroreflected light from cube corner reflectors and prevent it from reaching the light detector.

A method of operating a LiDAR system, the method comprising:

• by a LiDAR system comprising a light emitter, a light detector, and a polarization filter:
• causing the light emitter to emit a plurality of beams of polarized light, wherein each of the beams exhibits a vertical polarization or a horizontal polarization;
• receiving reflected beams of polarized light, wherein the reflected beams comprise beams that correspond to the beams emitted by the light emitter;
• and
• limiting the reflected beams that reach the light detector to those reflected beams that have a single polarization by passing the reflected beams through a polarization filter before the reflected beams reach the light detector.