Compact and lightweight 1.5 {\mu}m lidar with a multi-mode fiber coupling free-running InGaAs/InP single-photon detector

TL;DR

This paper introduces a compact, lightweight 1.5 μm lidar system utilizing a free-running single-photon detector with multi-mode fiber coupling, enabling efficient cloud detection and potential UAV deployment.

Contribution

The work presents a novel lidar design with enhanced collection efficiency and error correction algorithms, significantly reducing size, weight, and power requirements compared to traditional systems.

Findings

Collection efficiency with MMF coupling is five times higher than SMF.

The lidar can detect cloud base height and multi-layer clouds up to 12 km.

The system operates with 1 s temporal and 15 m spatial resolution.

Abstract

We present a compact and lightweight 1.5 {\mu}m lidar using a free-running single-photon detector (SPD) based on a multi-mode fiber (MMF) coupling InGaAs/InP negative feedback avalanche diode. The ultimate light detection sensitivity of SPD highly reduces the power requirement of laser, whilst the enhanced collection efficiency due to MMF coupling significantly reduces the volume and weight of telescopes. We develop a specific algorithm for the corrections of errors caused by the SPD and erbium-doped fiber amplifier to extract accurate backscattering signals. We also perform a comparison between single-mode fiber (SMF) coupling and MMF coupling in the lidar receiver, and the results show that the collection efficiency with MMF coupling is five times higher than SMF coupling. In order to validate the functionality, we use the lidar system for the application of cloud detection. The lidar system exhibits the ability to detect both the cloud base height and the thickness of multi-layer clouds to an altitude of 12 km with a temporal resolution of 1 s and a spatial resolution of 15 m. Due to the advantages of compactness and lightweight, our lidar system can be installed on unmanned aerial vehicles for wide applications in practice.