Disclosure of Invention
Therefore, the technical problem to be solved by the application is to overcome the defect of low signal-to-noise ratio of the existing laser radar system, so as to provide the laser radar system.
The present application provides a lidar system comprising: a semiconductor laser including an active layer; the narrow-band optical filter comprises a Bragg reflector layer and a core layer, and laser emitted by the semiconductor laser is suitable for passing through the narrow-band optical filter; the active layer, the Bragg reflector layer and the core layer are all made of III-V semiconductor materials.
Optionally, the bragg reflector layer includes first to n+1th bragg reflector layers spaced apart; the core layers comprise first core layers to N core layers at intervals, and N is an integer greater than or equal to 1; the kth core layer is disposed between the kth Bragg reflector layer and the kth +1th Bragg reflector layer, where k is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N.
Optionally, the n-th bragg reflector layer includes a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer alternately stacked in sequence, the refractive index of the first semiconductor layer is different from the refractive index of the second semiconductor layer, and the difference between the refractive indexes of the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer is 0.1-0.6.
Optionally, the refractive index of the first semiconductor layer is 2.8-3.15; the refractive index of the second semiconductor layer is 3.15-3.5.
Optionally, the material of the first semiconductor layer is Al x Ga 1-x As, x=0-0.2; the material of the second semiconductor layer is Al y Ga 1-y As, y=0.8-1; the first core layer to the N-th core layer are made of Al z Ga 1-z As,z=0-1。
Optionally, the optical thicknesses of the first core layer to the N-1 th core layer are integer multiples of one quarter of the wavelength of the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser at the working temperature.
Optionally, in the nth bragg reflector layer, the number of layers of the first semiconductor layer is M, the number of layers of the second semiconductor layer is M-1, and M is 5-15.
Optionally, the optical filter further includes: a first anti-reflection film positioned on one side surface of the first Bragg reflector layer, which is away from the first core layer; and the second antireflection film is positioned on one side surface of the (N+1) th Bragg reflector layer, which is away from the (N) th core layer.
Optionally, the material of the first anti-reflection film comprises silicon nitride or silicon oxide; the material of the second antireflection film comprises silicon nitride or silicon oxide.
Optionally, the optical thickness of the first antireflection film and the second antireflection film are each one quarter of the wavelength of the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser at the working temperature.
Optionally, the bandwidth of the narrowband filter ranges from 5nm to 15nm.
Optionally, the lidar system further comprises: the semiconductor laser, the light splitting module and the scanning module are positioned on a first axis, and a first included angle is formed between the first axis and the normal line of the light splitting module; the laser converging module and the detecting module are positioned on a second axis, the first axis and the second axis are respectively positioned on two sides of the normal line of the light splitting module, the second axis and the normal line of the light splitting module form a second included angle, and the first included angle is identical to the second included angle.
The technical scheme of the application has the following advantages:
1. according to the laser radar system provided by the application, the materials of the active layer, the Bragg reflector layer and the core layer are all III-V semiconductor materials, and the temperature drift coefficients of the III-V semiconductor materials are very close, so that the wavelength of laser emitted by the semiconductor laser and the central wavelength of the narrow-band optical filter are synchronously offset when the temperature changes, and therefore, even if the temperature changes, the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser can still penetrate the narrow-band optical filter, and a temperature controller is not required to be arranged to control the temperature of the semiconductor laser; meanwhile, the filtering range of the narrow-band filter is smaller, so that most of wave band light except the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser hardly penetrates through the narrow-band filter, the signal-to-noise ratio of the system is improved, and the detection sensitivity is improved.
2. According to the laser radar system provided by the application, the difference value of the refractive indexes of the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer is limited to be 0.1-0.6, so that the reflectivity of the nth Bragg reflector layer is regulated and controlled, the bandwidth of the narrow-band optical filter is regulated and controlled, and the signal to noise ratio of the laser radar system is finally controlled. Specifically, the larger the difference between the refractive indexes of the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, the larger the reflectivity of the n-th Bragg reflector layer, the narrower the passband of the narrowband filter, and the smaller the bandwidth.
3. According to the laser radar system provided by the application, the first antireflection film and the second antireflection film can increase the transmittance of the narrow-band optical filter, so that the accuracy of a detection result is improved.
Detailed Description
The following description of the embodiments of the present application will be made apparent and fully in view of the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the application are shown. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the application without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the application.
In the description of the present application, it should be noted that the directions or positional relationships indicated by the terms "upper", "lower", "inner", "outer", etc. are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the drawings, are merely for convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the apparatus or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present application. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.
Referring to fig. 1, the present embodiment provides a lidar system including: a semiconductor laser 1, the semiconductor laser 1 including an active layer; a narrow band filter 2, wherein the narrow band filter 2 comprises a Bragg reflector layer and a core layer, and the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser 1 is suitable for penetrating the narrow band filter 2; the active layer, the Bragg reflector layer and the core layer are all made of III-V semiconductor materials.
In the above laser radar system, since the materials of the active layer, the bragg reflector layer and the core layer are all iii-v semiconductor materials, and the temperature drift coefficients of the iii-v semiconductor materials are very close, so that the wavelength of the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser 1 and the center wavelength of the narrowband optical filter 2 are synchronously shifted when the temperature changes, even if the temperature changes, the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser 1 still can penetrate the narrowband optical filter 2, so that a temperature controller is not required to be set to control the temperature of the semiconductor laser 1; meanwhile, the filtering range of the narrow-band filter 2 is smaller, so that most of wave band light except the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser 1 is difficult to penetrate through the narrow-band filter 2, the signal-to-noise ratio of the system is improved, and the detection sensitivity is improved.
In this embodiment, the lidar system further includes: the semiconductor laser 1, the light splitting module 3 and the scanning module 4 are positioned on a first axis, and a first included angle is formed between the first axis and the normal line of the light splitting module 3; the laser convergence module 5 and the detection module 6, the light splitting module 3, the narrow-band optical filter 2, the laser convergence module 5 and the detection module 6 are located on a second axis, the first axis and the second axis are respectively located on two sides of the normal line of the light splitting module 3, a second included angle is formed between the second axis and the normal line of the light splitting module 3, and the first included angle is identical to the second included angle. The laser emitted by the semiconductor laser 1 penetrates through the light splitting module 3 and reaches the scanning module 4, and the scanning module 4 emits laser to a two-dimensional space; when a target obstacle 9 exists in the two-dimensional space, the target obstacle 9 reflects the laser back; subsequently, the laser irradiates to the light splitting module 3 through the scanning module 4, and the light splitting module 3 reflects the laser to the narrow-band filter 2 for filtering; the filtered laser is converged by the laser converging module 5 and enters the detecting module 6, and the detecting module 6 analyzes the laser. It should be understood that the laser light reflected by the target obstacle 9 has the same wavelength as the laser light emitted by the semiconductor laser 1.
Further, the lidar system further comprises: a control module 7 and a power supply 8, said power supply 8 being adapted to energize said semiconductor laser 1, said control module 7 being electrically connected to the power supply 8, said control module 7 being adapted to control said semiconductor laser 1 to emit laser light and said detection module 6 to receive laser light.
In particular, the semiconductor laser 1 may be a distributed feedback laser or a vertical cavity surface emitting laser, and the semiconductor laser 1 has a positive temperature coefficient. Specifically, the temperature drift coefficient of the semiconductor laser 1 in the wave band of 900nm-1064nm is 0.06 nm/DEG C-0.075 nm/DEG C, and the temperature drift coefficient in the wave band of 1310nm-1550nm is 0.08 nm/DEG C-0.09 nm/DEG C. The scanning module 4 can be a two-dimensional galvanometer or a laser scanning optical system; the laser condensing module 5 may be a condensing lens or a condensing optical system; the detection module 6 may be a detector or a detector array.
In this embodiment, referring to fig. 2, the bragg mirror layers include first through n+1th bragg mirror layers 22 through an interval; the core layers comprise first core layers 23 to N core layers at intervals, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1; the kth core layer is disposed between the kth Bragg reflector layer and the kth +1th Bragg reflector layer, where k is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N. The n-th Bragg reflector layer comprises a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer which are alternately and sequentially laminated, wherein the refractive index of the first semiconductor layer is different from that of the second semiconductor layer, and the difference between the refractive indexes of the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer is 0.1-0.6. The limitation is used for regulating and controlling the reflectivity of the nth Bragg reflector layer, further regulating and controlling the bandwidth of the narrow-band optical filter 2, and finally controlling the signal-to-noise ratio of the laser radar system. Specifically, the larger the difference between the refractive indexes of the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, the larger the reflectivity of the n-th bragg reflector layer, and the narrower the passband of the narrowband filter 2, the smaller the bandwidth. Specifically, the bandwidth of the narrowband filter 2 is in the range of 5nm-15nm.
Specifically, the refractive index of the first semiconductor layer is 2.8-3.15; the refractive index of the second semiconductor layer is 3.15-3.5. Illustratively, the refractive index of the first semiconductor layer may be 2.8%, 2.9%, 3.0%, 3.1%, or 3.15%, and the refractive index of the second semiconductor layer may be 3.15%, 3.2%, 3.3%, 3.4%, or 3.5%.
Further, the material of the first semiconductor layer is Al x Ga 1-x As, x=0-0.2; the material of the second semiconductor layer is Al y Ga 1-y As, y=0.8-1; the materials of the first core layer 23 to the N-th core layer are Al z Ga 1-z As, z=0-1. The material of the first semiconductor layer may be, for example, al 0.1 Ga 0.9 As、Al 0.2 Ga 0.8 As、Al 0.15 Ga 0.85 As or GaAs; the material of the second semiconductor layer can be Al 0.8 Ga 0.2 As、Al 0.9 Ga 0.1 As、Al 0.85 Ga 0.15 As or AlAs; the materials of the first core layer 23 to the N-th core layer can be GaAs, al 0.1 Ga 0.9 As、Al 0.2 Ga 0.8 As、Al 0.3 Ga 0.7 As、Al 0.4 Ga 0.6 As、Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As、Al 0.6 Ga 0.4 As、Al 0.7 Ga 0.3 As、Al 0.8 Ga 0.2 As、Al 0.9 Ga 0.1 As or AlAs. GaAs has a refractive index of 3.5, and AlAs has a refractive index of 2.9. It is to be understood that the materials of the first semiconductor layer, the second semiconductor layer, and the first to N-th core layers 23 to 23 include, but are not limited to, the above materials.
Further, the optical thicknesses of the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer are each one quarter of the wavelength of the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser at the working temperature.
Further, in the nth Bragg reflector layer, the number of layers of the first semiconductor layer is M, the number of layers of the second semiconductor layer is M-1, and M is 5-15. The more the number of layers of the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer is, the higher the reflectivity of the n-th Bragg reflector layer is, so that the bandwidth of the band filter is regulated and controlled, and finally the signal-to-noise ratio of the laser radar system is controlled.
In this embodiment, the optical thicknesses of the first core layer 23 to the N-1 th core layer are all integer multiples of one quarter of the wavelength of the laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser at the operating temperature. The center wavelength of the narrowband filter 2 is determined by the optical thicknesses of the first core layer 23 to the N-1 th core layer, and the above limitation makes the center wavelength of the narrowband filter 2 equal to the wavelength of the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser 1 at the operating temperature of the semiconductor laser 1, so as to ensure that the passband of the narrowband filter 2 matches with the wavelength of the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser 1 at the operating temperature, and when the environmental temperature of the semiconductor laser 1 fluctuates around the operating temperature, the laser emitted by the semiconductor laser 1 can still penetrate the narrowband filter 2. It is to be understood that the operating temperature of the semiconductor laser is dependent on the type and material of the semiconductor laser, and is a specific temperature value.
In this embodiment, N may be 1 or 2. That is, referring to fig. 2, the narrowband filter 2 includes a first bragg mirror layer 22, a first core layer 23, and a second bragg mirror layer 24, which are sequentially stacked; alternatively, the narrowband filter 2 includes a first bragg reflector layer, a first core layer, a second bragg reflector layer, a second core layer, and a third bragg reflector layer that are sequentially stacked.
In this embodiment, referring to fig. 2, the optical filter further includes: a first antireflection film 21 located on a side surface of the first bragg mirror layer 22 facing away from the first core layer 23; and a second antireflection film 25 on a side surface of the n+1th bragg mirror layer facing away from the nth core layer. The first antireflection film 21 and the second antireflection film 25 can increase the transmittance of the narrowband filter 2, thereby being beneficial to improving the accuracy of the detection result.
Specifically, the material of the first anti-reflection film 21 includes silicon nitride or silicon oxide; the material of the second anti-reflection film 25 includes silicon nitride or silicon oxide. The optical thickness of the first antireflection film 21 and the second antireflection film 25 are each one quarter of the wavelength of the laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser at the operating temperature.
It is to be understood that the optical thickness of any of the structural layers described in the present application is equal to the product of the refractive index of the structural layer and the geometric thickness of the structural layer.
It is apparent that the above examples are given by way of illustration only and are not limiting of the embodiments. Other variations or modifications of the above teachings will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. It is not necessary here nor is it exhaustive of all embodiments. While still being apparent from variations or modifications that may be made by those skilled in the art are within the scope of the application.