Multi-channel lidar optical sub-assembly with shared optics

An optical device, comprising:

• a laser component to emit a frequency-modulated source beam;
• an optical component to split the frequency-modulated source beam to generate a first beam and a second beam having different spatial offsets;
• a multiplexing component to multiplex, using spatial division multiplexing, the first beam and the second beam to form a first multiplexed beam;
• an optical system to receive the first multiplexed beam and to demultiplex the first multiplexed beam to obtain the first beam and the second beam;
• a scanning component to:
• receive, from the optical system, the first beam and the second beam,
• scan a field of view with the first beam and the second beam,
• receive the first beam reflected from the field of view and the second beam reflected from the field of view, and
• provide the first beam reflected from the field of view and the second beam reflected from the field of view to the optical system, wherein the optical system is to multiplex the first beam reflected from the field of view and the second beam reflected from the field of view to form a second multiplexed beam reflected from the field of view;
• a demultiplexing component to receive, from the optical system, the second multiplexed beam reflected from the field of view and demultiplex, using spatial division demultiplexing, the second multiplexed beam reflected from the field of view to obtain the first beam reflected from the field of view and the second beam reflected from the field of view;
• a first receiver to receive, from the demultiplexing component, the first beam reflected from the field of view;
• and
• a second receiver to receive, from the demultiplexing component, the second beam reflected from the field of view.

An optical device, comprising:

• a laser component to emit a frequency-modulated source beam;
• an optical component to split the frequency-modulated source beam to generate a first beam and a second beam;
• a multiplexing component to multiplex the first beam and the second beam to form a first multiplexed beam;
• an optical system to receive the first multiplexed beam and to demultiplex the first multiplexed beam to obtain the first beam and the second beam;
• a scanning component to:
• receive, from the optical system, the first beam and the second beam,
• scan a field of view with the first beam and the second beam,
• receive the first beam reflected from the field of view and the second beam reflected from the field of view, and
• provide the first beam reflected from the field of view and the second beam reflected from the field of view to the optical system, wherein the optical system is to multiplex the first beam reflected from the field of view and the second beam reflected from the field of view to form a second multiplexed beam reflected from the field of view;
• a demultiplexing component to receive, from the optical system, the second multiplexed beam reflected from the field of view and demultiplex the second multiplexed beam reflected from the field of view to obtain the first beam reflected from the field of view and the second beam reflected from the field of view;
• a first receiver to receive, from the demultiplexing component, the first beam reflected from the field of view;
• and
• a second receiver to receive, from the demultiplexing component, the second beam reflected from the field of view.