CN116087915B - Optical chip, laser radar, automatic driving system and movable equipment - Google Patents

Optical chip, laser radar, automatic driving system and movable equipment Download PDF

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Publication number
CN116087915B
CN116087915B CN202310370432.0A CN202310370432A CN116087915B CN 116087915 B CN116087915 B CN 116087915B CN 202310370432 A CN202310370432 A CN 202310370432A CN 116087915 B CN116087915 B CN 116087915B
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waveguide
receiving
waveguides
emission
light
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CN116087915A (en
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董鹏辉
汪敬
王皓
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Suteng Innovation Technology Co Ltd
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Suteng Innovation Technology Co Ltd
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/48—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S17/00
    • G01S7/481—Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements
    • G01S7/4816—Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements of receivers alone

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
  • Remote Sensing (AREA)
  • Optical Radar Systems And Details Thereof (AREA)

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses an optical chip, a laser radar, an automatic driving system and automatic equipment, wherein the optical chip comprises a cladding and a receiving waveguide assembly, and the receiving waveguide assembly comprises at least three receiving waveguides and at least two beam combiners; the receiving waveguide comprises a first end and a second end, the first end is used for receiving the received wave light, the beam combiner comprises two input ends and an output end, at least two beam combiners comprise a first beam combiner and a second beam combiner, each input end of the first beam combiner is respectively connected with the second end of one receiving waveguide, one input end of the second beam combiner is connected with the second end of one receiving waveguide, the receiving waveguides connected with the input ends of the beam combiners are different, and the other input end of the second beam combiner is connected with the output end of one beam combiner. Compared with the optical chip without the beam combiner, the optical chip provided by the application can reduce the number of the photoelectric detection modules and the signal processing devices.

Description

Optical chip, laser radar, automatic driving system and movable equipment
Technical Field
The application relates to the technical field of laser detection, in particular to a light chip, a laser radar, an automatic driving system and automatic equipment.
Background
The laser radar is a radar system for detecting the position, speed and other characteristic quantities of a target by emitting laser beams, and the working principle is that the laser radar emits detection light to the target, then compares the received echo light reflected from the target with local oscillation light, and obtains relevant information of the target, such as parameters of target distance, azimuth, height, speed, gesture, even shape and the like after proper processing.
The frequency modulation continuous wave (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave, FMCW) laser radar combines frequency modulation continuous wave ranging with laser detection technology, and has the advantages of large ranging range, high range resolution, capability of Doppler speed measurement and the like. In recent years, the development trend of the FMCW laser radar is that the small-volume high-integration degree is always the development trend, and meanwhile, the integrated photon technology which is rapidly developed also injects new vitality into the frequency modulation continuous wave laser radar.
Disclosure of Invention
In the related art, the FMCW lidar receives the echo light by using a receiving waveguide array in the optical chip, wherein the receiving waveguide array comprises a plurality of receiving waveguides, so that the light detection receiving efficiency of the lidar can be improved, however, the more the number of the receiving waveguides is, the more the number of the required photoelectric detection modules is, and the manufacturing cost of the lidar is higher.
The embodiment of the application provides an optical chip, a laser radar, an automatic driving system and automatic equipment, which are used for improving the problems that the more the number of receiving waveguides in the related technology is, the more the number of required photoelectric detection modules is, and the higher the manufacturing cost of the laser radar is.
The embodiment of the application provides an optical chip, which comprises a cladding layer and a receiving waveguide assembly embedded in the cladding layer, wherein the receiving waveguide assembly is used for receiving reflected wave light and comprises at least three receiving waveguides and at least two beam combiners;
the receiving waveguides comprise a first end and a second end which are oppositely arranged, the first end is used for receiving the echo light, the receiving waveguides are arranged at intervals along a first direction, and the first direction is parallel to the end face of the first end, which is away from the second end; and
the beam combiner comprises two input ends and an output end, the at least two beam combiners comprise a first beam combiner and a second beam combiner, each input end of the first beam combiner is connected with a second end of the receiving waveguide respectively, one input end of the second beam combiner is connected with a second end of the receiving waveguide, the receiving waveguides connected with the input ends of the beam combiners are different, and the other input end of the second beam combiner is connected with one output end of the beam combiner.
In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a laser radar, including the above optical chip.
In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides an autopilot system including the laser radar described above.
In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a mobile device, including the above-mentioned lidar; alternatively, an autopilot system as described above is included.
The optical chip, the laser radar, the automatic driving system and the automatic equipment are characterized in that the receiving waveguide assembly is provided with a plurality of receiving waveguides, so that the offset echo light reaches at least one receiving waveguide in the plurality of receiving waveguides, the receiving of the echo light can be realized, and the receiving efficiency of the echo light is improved. In addition, each input end of the first beam combiner is connected with the second end of a receiving waveguide respectively, compared with the situation that no beam combiner is arranged, the number of photoelectric detection modules and signal processing devices can be reduced, the signal processing difficulty is reduced, the reliability of detection results is improved, and the manufacturing cost of the laser radar is reduced.
Drawings
In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings that are required in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below, it being obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and that other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort for a person skilled in the art.
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobile device according to an embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the structure of a mobile device according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a first structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a second structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a third structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a fourth structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a fifth structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a sixth structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 10 is a schematic view of a seventh structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 11 is a schematic view of an eighth structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 12 is a schematic view of a ninth structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present application; the receiving waveguide assembly comprises four receiving waveguides, a first beam combiner and two second beam combiners which are sequentially connected in series;
FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a receive waveguide assembly including four receive waveguides and employing a four-in-one combiner;
fig. 14 is a schematic view of a tenth structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 15 is a schematic view of an eleventh structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 16 is a schematic view of a twelfth structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 17 is a schematic view of a thirteenth structure of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a receiving waveguide and a beam combiner of a receiving waveguide assembly in an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of a perspective structure of an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the launch waveguide assembly in the optical chip shown in FIG. 19;
FIG. 21 is a gray scale view of a schematic of light field propagation of an launch waveguide assembly of an embodiment of the present application when used to transmit probe light;
FIG. 22 is a gray scale diagram of a schematic of the mode evolution of an launch waveguide assembly of an embodiment of the present application when used to transmit probe light;
FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram of beam transmission at single input single output using a single emitting waveguide in the related art;
FIG. 24 is a schematic view of beam transmission at the single input multiple output using the launch waveguide assembly of the present embodiment;
fig. 25 is a gray scale view of a far field spot of a target object where an outgoing beam corresponding to a single emission waveguide in the related art shown in fig. 23 falls;
FIG. 26 is a gray scale plot of a far field spot of a target object where an outgoing beam corresponding to the launch waveguide assembly of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 24 falls;
FIG. 27 is a schematic diagram of a perspective structure of an optical chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
fig. 28 is a schematic structural view of the launch waveguide assembly in the optical chip shown in fig. 27.
Reference numerals illustrate: 1. a removable device; 2. an autopilot system; 3. a laser radar; 4. an optical chip; 41. a launch waveguide assembly; 411. a launch waveguide; 412. a first emission waveguide; 412m, an incident end; 412n, exit end; 4121. an input unit; 4121p, first part; 4121q, second part; 4122. a first coupling part; 4123. a first output section; 4124. a first transmission section; 4125. a third coupling section; 413. a second launch waveguide; 4131. a second coupling part; 4132. a second output section; 4133. a second transmission section; 4134. a fourth coupling section; 42. a substrate layer; 43. a cladding layer; 44. receiving a waveguide assembly; 441. a receiving waveguide; 4411. a first end; 4412. a second end; 4413. a 1 st receiving waveguide; 4414. a 2 nd receiving waveguide; 4415. a 3 rd receiving waveguide; 4416. a 4 th receiving waveguide; 4417. a first connection portion; 4418. a third end; 4419. a second connecting portion; 4410. a fourth end; 442. a beam combiner; 4421. a first beam combiner; 4422. a second beam combiner; 4423. a third beam combiner; 4424. a 1 st stage combiner; 4425. a 2 nd stage combiner; 4426. a 3 rd stage combiner; 45. a phase compensator; c. a first interface; d. a second interface; e. a third interface; f. a fourth interface; s, a fifth interface; t, a sixth interface; x, second direction; 6. a scanning device; y, a first direction; 44', a receiving waveguide assembly; 441', a receiving waveguide; 4414', 4 th receive waveguide; 442', beam combiner; y', first direction.
Detailed Description
For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present application will be given with reference to the accompanying drawings.
When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, the same numbers in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements, unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the following exemplary examples are not representative of all implementations consistent with the present application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with some aspects of the present application as detailed in the accompanying claims.
Referring to fig. 1 and 2, an embodiment of the present application provides a mobile device 1, the mobile device 1 including a lidar 3; alternatively, the mobile device 1 comprises an autopilot system 2. The mobile device 1 may be an automobile, a drone, a robot, or the like, optionally including a lidar 3 or an autopilot system 2. Where the mobile device 1 comprises an autopilot system 2, the autopilot system 2 comprises a lidar 3.
The lidar 3 may be a frequency modulated continuous wave (FrequencyModulated Continuous Wave, abbreviated as FMCW) lidar or the like, and is not limited thereto. The FMCW laser radar can be widely applied to scenes such as intelligent network-connected automobiles, automobile-road cooperation, intelligent robots and the like.
Specifically, referring to fig. 3, the laser radar 3 includes an optical chip 4, where the optical chip 4 is configured to receive a return light reflected by a target object in a detection area, compare the return light with a local oscillation light, and output a corresponding electrical signal; then, the signal processing unit in the laser radar 3 processes the electric signal properly to form a point cloud image; and then, further processing the point cloud image to obtain parameters such as the distance, the azimuth, the height, the speed, the gesture, the shape and the like of the target object, so that the laser detection function is realized, and the method can be applied to scenes such as navigation avoidance, obstacle recognition, distance measurement, speed measurement, automatic driving and the like of products such as automobiles, robots, logistics vehicles, patrol vehicles and the like.
According to practical requirements, the laser radar 3 is not only used in the technical field of laser detection, but also can be used in other application fields, such as the technical fields of part diameter detection, surface roughness detection, strain detection, displacement detection, vibration detection, speed detection, distance detection, acceleration detection, shape detection of objects and the like.
For the above optical chip 4, please refer to fig. 3, which shows a schematic diagram of the optical chip 4 according to one embodiment of the present application, the optical chip 4 includes a substrate layer 42, a cladding layer 43, and a receiving waveguide assembly 44 embedded in the cladding layer 43. Wherein the substrate layer 42 is a base material for laying the cladding layer 43; in this embodiment, it is made of silicon, and it is understood that in other embodiments of the present application, the substrate layer 42 may be made of other suitable materials, such as silicon nitride, etc. Cladding layer 43 is deposited or grown over substrate layer 42, which forms one of the main structures of optical chip 4, as well as the structure to which receiving waveguide assembly 44 is attached; the material of the cladding layer 43 is generally different from the substrate layer 42 and may be made of silicon dioxide and/or silicon oxynitride, etc. The receiving waveguide assembly 44 is configured to receive echo light formed by the reflection of the probe light by the target object and transmit the echo light to a photodetection module (not shown). The receiving waveguide assembly 44 is embedded in the cladding 43, and the refractive index of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 is larger than that of the cladding 43; thus, the receiving waveguide assembly 44 and the cladding 43 together form a structure for stable light transmission, that is, light can be transmitted along the receiving waveguide assembly 44 without easily overflowing outside the optical chip 4 via the cladding 43. For example, when the cladding 43 is made of silicon dioxide, the receiving waveguide assembly 44 may be made of silicon having a greater refractive index, although other materials having a refractive index greater than that of the cladding 43, such as silicon nitride, may be used. It should be noted that the substrate layer 42 is intended to act as a support for the cladding layer 43 during the fabrication of the optical chip 4; in some cases, the substrate layer 42 may be omitted.
Next, the structure of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 will be described in detail.
Referring to fig. 4, a schematic diagram of a receiving waveguide assembly 44 according to one embodiment of the present application is shown, where the receiving waveguide assembly 44 includes at least two receiving waveguides 441 and at least one beam combiner 442. The receiving waveguides 441 include a first end 4411 and a second end 4412 disposed opposite to each other, the first end 4411 is configured to receive the received light, and each receiving waveguide 441 is disposed at intervals along a first direction y, and the first direction y is parallel to an end surface of the first end 4411 facing away from the second end 4412. The beam combiner 442 includes two input ends and an output end, the at least one beam combiner 442 includes a first beam combiner 4421, each input end of the first beam combiner 4421 is connected to the second end 4412 of the receiving waveguide 441, and the light received and transmitted by the two receiving waveguides 441 is output through the first beam combiner 4421, so that the number of photoelectric detection modules and signal processing devices can be reduced, the difficulty of signal processing can be reduced, the reliability of the detection result can be improved, and the manufacturing cost of the laser radar 3 can be reduced.
It should be noted that, of the at least two receiving waveguides 441 included in the receiving waveguide assembly 44, a beam combiner 442 may be connected to a portion of the receiving waveguides 441, see fig. 4 to 9, or a beam combiner 442 may be connected to all of the receiving waveguides 441, see fig. 10 to 12.
Where a portion of the at least two receiving waveguides 441 included in the receiving waveguide assembly 44 is connected to the beam combiner 442, referring to fig. 4, the receiving waveguides 441 of the unconnected beam combiner 442 may be located at opposite sides of the receiving waveguides 441 connected to the beam combiner 442 in the first direction y, or, referring to fig. 5 to 8, the receiving waveguides 441 of the unconnected beam combiner 442 may be located at the same side of the receiving waveguides 441 connected to the beam combiner 442 in the first direction y, or, referring to fig. 9, the receiving waveguides 441 of the unconnected beam combiner 442 may be located between the receiving waveguides 441 connected to different beam combiners 442 in the first direction y.
When the receiving waveguide 441 not connected to the combiner 442 is located on the same side of the receiving waveguide 441 connected to the combiner 442 along the first direction y, the receiving waveguide 441 not connected to the combiner 442 may be used to receive echo light corresponding to a relatively long-distance target object compared to the receiving waveguide 441 connected to the combiner 442. For example, taking the receiving waveguide assembly 44 shown in fig. 6 as an example, the receiving waveguide assembly 44 includes a first receiving waveguide, a second receiving waveguide and a third receiving waveguide, where the first receiving waveguide and the second receiving waveguide are respectively the receiving waveguides 441 located at the outermost side along the first direction y in each receiving waveguide 441, the third receiving waveguide is located between the first receiving waveguide and the second receiving waveguide along the first direction y, the first receiving waveguide (the first receiving waveguide from top to bottom in fig. 6) and the third receiving waveguide (the second receiving waveguide from top to bottom in fig. 6) are both connected with the beam combiner 442, the second receiving waveguide (the first receiving waveguide from bottom to top in fig. 6) is not connected with the beam combiner 442, at this time, the second receiving waveguide can be used to receive the echo light corresponding to the relatively far-distance target object compared with the first receiving waveguide, and the second receiving waveguide can be used to receive the echo light corresponding to the relatively far-distance target object, so that the echo light corresponding to the relatively far-distance target object does not pass through the beam combiner 442, and the second receiving waveguide can be used to detect the echo light corresponding to the relatively far-distance target object after the relatively far-distance target object passes through the receiving module 44; the echo light corresponding to the relatively close target object can pass through the beam combiner 442, so that on one hand, the number of photoelectric detection modules and signal processing devices can be reduced, and on the other hand, the receiving waveguide assembly 44 can only output one path of echo light to the photoelectric detection modules for the case that the echo light simultaneously falls on the two receiving waveguides 441 connected with the beam combiner 442, thereby reducing the signal processing difficulty to a certain extent and improving the reliability of the detection result.
The particular implementation of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 is varied when the receiving waveguide assembly 44 includes a plurality of beam combiners 442. In an exemplary embodiment, referring to fig. 9 and 10, the receiving waveguide assembly 44 may include a plurality of first beam combiners 4421, that is, each input end of each first beam combiners 4421 is connected to a second end 4412 of a receiving waveguide 441, and the receiving waveguides 441 connected to the input ends of each beam combiners 442 are different.
In another exemplary embodiment, referring to fig. 7 and 8, the receiving waveguide assembly 44 may include a first beam combiner 4421 and a second beam combiner 4422, where an input end of the second beam combiner 4422 is connected to a second end 4412 of a receiving waveguide 441, and the receiving waveguides 441 connected to the inputs of the beam combiners 442 (the first beam combiner 4421 and the second beam combiner 4422) are different, and the other input end of the second beam combiner 4422 is connected to an output end of the beam combiner 442.
In yet another exemplary scenario, referring to fig. 11, the receiving waveguide 441 may include a first combiner 4421 and a third combiner 4423, where each input of the third combiner 4423 is connected to an output of a combiner 442. Note that the receiving waveguide 441 may further include a first beam combiner 4421, a second beam combiner 4422, and a third beam combiner 4423, which is not limited thereto.
When the receiving waveguide assembly 44 includes the first beam combiner 4421 and the second beam combiner 4422, the receiving waveguide assembly 44 shown in fig. 7 to 8 may include the first beam combiner 4421 and the second beam combiner 4422 connected in series in sequence, or the receiving waveguide assembly 44 shown in fig. 12 may include the first beam combiner 4421 and at least two second beam combiners 4422 connected in series in sequence.
The receiving waveguide assembly 44 includes a first combiner 4421 and a second combiner 4422 connected in series in sequence as will be described in detail below.
Referring to fig. 8, taking the receiving waveguide assembly 44 shown in fig. 8 as an example, the receiving waveguide assembly 44 includes a first receiving waveguide, a second receiving waveguide, a third receiving waveguide and a fourth receiving waveguide, the first receiving waveguide and the second receiving waveguide are respectively the receiving waveguides 441 located at the outermost side along the first direction y in each receiving waveguide 441, the third receiving waveguide and the fourth receiving waveguide are located between the first receiving waveguide and the second receiving waveguide along the first direction y, the first receiving waveguide (the first receiving waveguide from top to bottom in fig. 8) and the third receiving waveguide (the second receiving waveguide from top to bottom in fig. 8) are both connected with the first beam combiner 4421, the fourth receiving waveguide (the third receiving waveguide from top to bottom in fig. 8) is connected with the second receiving beam combiner 4422, and the second receiving waveguide (the first receiving waveguide from bottom to top in fig. 8) is not connected with the beam combiner. At this time, the optical chip 4 may be configured from a first receiving waveguide to a second receiving waveguide, each of which is configured such that the distance for detection gradually increases; for example, the first receiving waveguide may be disposed close to an emission waveguide assembly, which will be described later, for receiving the detection light output from the light source module and emitting the detection light to the outside of the optical chip 4 to detect the target object, and the second receiving waveguide may be disposed away from the emission waveguide assembly. The second receiving waveguide may be used for receiving echo light corresponding to a relatively long-distance target object compared to the first receiving waveguide, the third receiving waveguide and the fourth receiving waveguide, so that the echo light corresponding to the relatively long-distance target object does not pass through the beam combiner 442 when entering the receiving waveguide assembly 44 via the second receiving waveguide, optical power loss is not easy to occur, and it can be ensured that the echo light of the relatively long-distance target object still has higher energy after passing through the receiving waveguide assembly 44, so that the photoelectric detection module can detect the echo light; and the return light corresponding to the relatively close target object may pass through the beam combiner 442. In this way, on the one hand, the number of photoelectric detection modules and signal processing devices can be reduced; on the other hand, for the case that the echo light falls on the two receiving waveguides 441 connected with the beam combiner 442 at the same time, the receiving waveguide assembly 44 can only output one path of echo light to the photoelectric detection module, so that the difficulty of signal processing can be reduced to a certain extent, and the reliability of the detection result can be improved; on the other hand, since the energy of the echo light reflected by the target object farther from the receiving waveguide assembly 44 will be lower, the number of beam combiners 442 passing therethrough will be correspondingly smaller, that is, the optical loss will be smaller, the present exemplary embodiment is advantageous in ensuring that each receiving waveguide 441 has a sufficient signal output on the basis of reducing the number of photodetection modules, compared to the configuration shown in fig. 7.
The following description will proceed with the receiving waveguide assembly 44 including the first beam combiner 4421 and at least two second beam combiners 4422 connected in series.
Referring to fig. 12, taking the receiving waveguide assembly 44 shown in fig. 12 as an example, the receiving waveguides 441 connected to the second beam combiners 4422 are located on the same side of the receiving waveguides 441 connected to the first beam combiners 4421 along the first direction y; the receiving waveguide 441 connected to the second beam combiner 4422 located upstream is closer to the receiving waveguide 441 connected to the first beam combiner 4421 than the receiving waveguide 441 connected to the second beam combiner 4422 located downstream in the serial direction from the first beam combiner 4421 through the second beam combiners 4422. At this time, in the first direction y, the number of the beam combiners 442 passing through is larger than the number of the beam combiners 442 passing through the receiving waveguide 441 at the front side, and the optical power loss is larger as the number of the beam combiners 442 passing through is larger. Generally, for the near-distance target object and the far-distance target object, the optical power of the echo light corresponding to the near-distance target object is higher, and can bear relatively larger optical power loss, based on this, the front receiving waveguide 441 can be designed to receive the echo light corresponding to the near-distance target object, and the rear receiving waveguide 441 can receive the echo light corresponding to the far-distance target object, that is, the front receiving waveguide 441 is close to the transmitting waveguide assembly, and the rear receiving waveguide 441 is far away from the transmitting waveguide assembly, so that the optical power loss of the echo light corresponding to the far-distance target object is smaller than that of the echo light corresponding to the near-distance target object, and therefore, the receiving waveguide assembly 44 can output sufficiently high optical power regardless of the near-distance target object or the far-distance target object, so as to ensure that the laser radar 3 has better detection performance.
Based on the above description of the two exemplary embodiments of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 including the first beam combiner 4421 and the second beam combiner 4422, the receiving waveguide assembly 44 may include m-1 stage beam combiners 442 and m receiving waveguides 441, one input end of each stage of beam combiners 442 is connected to the output end of the previous stage of beam combiners 442, the m receiving waveguides 441 are spaced along the first direction y, the second end 4412 of the 1 st receiving waveguide 4413 along the first direction y is connected to one input end of the 1 st beam combiner 4424 (i.e., the first beam combiner 4421) of the m-1 stage beam combiners 442, the second end 4412 of the n receiving waveguide 441 along the first direction y is connected to the other input end of the n-1 stage beam combiners 442 of the m-1 stage beam combiners 442, where m 3 and m are positive integers, and n is equal to or more and n is equal to or less than m is a positive integer.
For example, the second end 4412 of the 2 nd receiving waveguide 4414 in the first direction y is connected to the other input terminal of the 1 st stage combiner 4424, the second end 4412 of the 3 rd receiving waveguide 4415 in the first direction y is connected to the other input terminal of the 2 nd stage combiner 4425, and so on. The number of beam combiners 442 passed through by the 2 nd receiving waveguide 4414 is greater than that of the 3 rd receiving waveguide 4415, so as to be able to adopt different levels of beam combination according to the distance of the corresponding target object; for example, the receiving waveguide 441 for receiving the echo light of the distant target object performs less-order beam combination, and the receiving waveguide 441 for receiving the echo light of the close target object performs more-order beam combination, so as to reduce the optical power loss after the beam combination of the distant target object.
Further, the above-mentioned sequential series multi-stage beam combination scheme can also reduce the optical power loss after the long-distance target object beam combination compared with the all-in-one beam combination scheme. For example, referring to fig. 12 and 13, fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 when the number of receiving waveguides 441 is four and the inventive concept of multi-stage beam combining sequentially connected in series is adopted, and fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of the receiving waveguide assembly 44' when the number of receiving waveguides 441' is four and one four-in-one beam combiner 442' is adopted, as can be seen from fig. 12, if the echo light corresponding to the remote target object is received by the last receiving waveguide 441 along the first direction y (i.e., the 4 th receiving waveguide 4416 from top to bottom), the 4 th receiving waveguide 4416 may only pass through one two-in-one beam combiner 442 (i.e., the 3 rd-stage beam combiner 4426), so that the optical power of the echo light passing through the 3 rd-stage beam combiner 4426 is about 1/2 lost. As can be seen from fig. 13, if the echo light corresponding to the remote target object is received by the last receiving waveguide 441 '(i.e., the 4 th receiving waveguide 4414') along the first direction y ', the optical power of the echo light passing through the four-in-one beam combiner 442' will be about 3/4 of the loss, and the optical power loss is larger.
In the embodiment of the present application, the number m of the receiving waveguides 441 may be any positive integer greater than or equal to 3, for example, m may be 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or the like, which is not limited.
It should be noted that, the value of m may be flexibly adjusted in combination with actual requirements, for example, the value of m may be adjusted according to the distance of the target object detected by the laser radar 3. Specifically, if the lidar 3 includes a scanning device (not shown in the drawing), the scanning device is located downstream of the emission waveguide assembly along the transmission direction of the probe light and upstream of the reception waveguide assembly 44 along the transmission direction of the return light, during operation of the lidar 3, the scanning device may move (e.g., rotate, etc.) such that the probe light and the return light are no longer coincident in the transmission path before and after passing through the scanning device, and the return light may no longer enter the emission waveguide assembly, but may be offset with respect to the emission waveguide assembly, i.e., may generate a walk-off effect. The walk-off effect causes the focused spot of the return light to shift along the first direction y, and the shift (dy) of the return light is approximately proportional to the distance (S) of the target object, so that the shift (dy) of the return light of the remote target object is relatively large, and if the lidar 3 is used for detecting the remote target object, the number of the receiving waveguides 441 included in the receiving waveguide assembly 44 may be designed to be correspondingly increased, so that the return light with a large shift corresponding to the remote target object can still be received by the receiving waveguides 441 in the receiving waveguide assembly 44; however, the offset of the echo light of the short-range target object is relatively small, and if the laser radar 3 is used for detecting the short-range target object, the number of the receiving waveguides 441 included in the receiving waveguide assembly 44 can be designed to be correspondingly reduced, so as to reduce the size of the receiving waveguide assembly 44, and realize the miniaturized design of the laser radar 3. Thus, for lidar 3 where long range detection is desired, the receive waveguide assembly 44 may include a greater number of receive waveguides, such as more than 3. Further, the receiving waveguide 441 for receiving the short-range return light may be disposed closer to the transmitting waveguide assembly than the receiving waveguide 441 for receiving the long-range return light. That is, the receiving waveguide 441 on the front side mentioned above is closer to the transmitting waveguide assembly, and the receiving waveguide 441 on the rear side is farther from the transmitting waveguide assembly; the first receiving waveguide is closer to the transmitting waveguide assembly and the second receiving waveguide is further from the transmitting waveguide assembly.
Wherein the scanning device may scan in a vertical direction and/or in a horizontal direction. The scanning device may include a galvanometer and/or a turning mirror, without limitation. For example, in some embodiments, the scanning device includes a two-dimensional galvanometer that can scan in both a horizontal direction and a vertical direction; for another example, in other embodiments, the scanning device includes a galvanometer that can scan in a vertical direction and a turning mirror that can scan in a horizontal direction.
Referring to fig. 14, the optical chip 4 further includes a phase compensator 45, and the phase compensator 45 is disposed between two beam combiners 442 connected in series, where the phase compensator 45 is used to compensate for a phase change of the echo light passing through the beam combiners 442. When two adjacent receiving waveguides receive the echo light, the different number of beam combiners 442 through which the echo light passes may cause different phase differences, and the different phase differences may cause a loss of optical power, for example, when the phase difference reaches pi, coherent cancellation may occur, and the phase compensator 45 is configured to eliminate the phase difference and reduce the optical power loss.
As for the spacing between the first ends 4411 of the adjacent two receiving waveguides 441, it may be approximately equal to the mode field diameter of the first ends of the receiving waveguides. The spacing between the first ends 4411 of the adjacent two receiving waveguides 441 means a spacing between centers of the first ends 4411 of the adjacent two receiving waveguides 441. Specifically, the spacing between the first ends 4411 of adjacent two receiving waveguides 441 may be the sum of half the width of the first end 4411 of one receiving waveguide 441 in the second direction y, half the width of the first end 4411 of the other receiving waveguide 441 in the second direction y, and the gap between the two receiving waveguides 441 in the second direction y. The mode field diameter of the first end 4411 of the receiving waveguide 441 means a diameter of a region range where the first end 4411 can receive an optical signal, which can be determined by acquiring the mode field diameter of light at the first end 4411 when the optical signal is transmitted from the second end 4412 to the first end 4411. Generally, the mode field diameter of the receiving waveguide 441 is approximately the same as that of the echo light, so as to ensure higher coupling efficiency when receiving the echo light; the spacing between the first ends 4411 of adjacent receiving waveguides 441 is approximately within 2 times the mode field diameter of the receiving waveguides 441, thus ensuring that the light spot of the return light can be coupled into at least one receiving waveguide 441 regardless of the position of the receiving waveguide assembly 44.
Specifically, the mode field diameter of the first end 4411 of the receiving waveguides 441 is the first diameter D, the distance between the first ends 4411 of two adjacent receiving waveguides 441 is the first distance L, and the optical chip may satisfy: D/L is more than or equal to 0.6 and less than or equal to 2.0. Alternatively, the value of D/L may be 0.6, 0.65, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, etc., which is not limited thereto.
In addition, the above-described setting of D/L.ltoreq.2.0 may also realize that the return light is received by at most two receiving waveguides 441. That is, the return light is received by only one receiving waveguide 441 or the return light is received by only two adjacent receiving waveguides 441, so as to reduce the difficulty of signal processing, etc.
Further, the optical power output from the receiving waveguide assembly 44 will be described below when the spot of the return light falls at a different position of the receiving waveguide assembly 44. If the optical power of the return light coupled into the ith receiving waveguide 441 is P i (dy), the i-th stage beam combiner 442 combines the two receiving waveguides 441 of the combined beam to have a beam combining ratio η, respectively i (dy) and eta i+1 (dy), i is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to m, and i is a positive integer. Wherein P is i (dy) varies depending on the focus position of the spot corresponding to the echo light. Specifically, if the distance between the focal position of the spot and the i-th receiving waveguide 441 is smaller, P i (dy) the larger the distance between the focal position of the spot and the i-th receiving waveguide 441 is, the larger P i The smaller (dy).
Wherein the beam combination proportion eta i (dy)、η i+1 (dy) is related to the optical power and phase of the echo light received by the i-th reception waveguide 441 and the i+1-th reception waveguide 441. For example, if i=1, the 1 st receiving waveguide 4413 receives 1 part of light, the 2 nd receiving waveguide 4414 receives 1 part of light, and the phases of the two parts of light are substantially the same, the output end of the 1 st stage combiner 4424 outputs 2 parts of light; at this time, η 1 (dy)≈= 1、η 2 (dy) ≈= 1。
Whereas if i=1, the 1 st receiving waveguide 4413 receives 2 parts of light, the 2 nd receiving waveguide 4414 receives 1 part of light, and the phase is substantially the sameIn the same situation, after beam combination, the light of the first receiving waveguide 4413 has partial loss, and the light of the second receiving waveguide 4414 is basically lossless; at this time, 0.5<η 1 (dy)≈3/4<1、η 2 (dy) ≈ 1。
Referring to fig. 15, if a region in the first direction y where only the 1 st receiving waveguide 4413 receives the reflected light is defined as a region S 0 The region in the first direction y where the 1 st receiving waveguide 4413 and the 2 nd receiving waveguide 4414 jointly receive the reflected light is defined as region S 1 The region in the first direction y where the 2 nd receiving waveguide 4414 and the 3 rd receiving waveguide 4415 jointly receive the reflected light is defined as region S 2 The region in the first direction y where the x-th receiving waveguide 441 and the x+1th receiving waveguide 441 jointly receive the reflected light is defined as a region S x … …, the region along the first direction y which is defined only by the rear side of the mth receiving waveguide 441 is defined as region S m The method comprises the steps of carrying out a first treatment on the surface of the Wherein x is more than or equal to 3<m and x are positive integers; it should be noted that, the case where only any one of the 2 nd receiving waveguide 4414 to the m-1 st receiving waveguide receives the received light will not be separately described here, and it may be a special case where the two receiving waveguides 441 receive the light together, that is, the optical power received by one of the receiving waveguides 441 is 0. At this time, the light spots corresponding to the echo light are focused on the region S 0 Region S 1 Region S 2 … …, region S x … …, region S m The received power of the receive waveguide assembly 44 is then as follows:
if the light spot corresponding to the echo light is focused in the region S 0 At this time, the echo light is almost completely received by the 1 st receiving waveguide 4413, and the light received by the 1 st receiving waveguide 4413 needs to pass through the m-1 beam combiners 442, and at this time, the receiving power of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 is approximately P 1 (dy)*1/2 m-1 。
If the light spot corresponding to the echo light is focused in the region S 1 At this time, part of the echo light is received by the 1 st receiving waveguide 4413, the light received by the 1 st receiving waveguide 4413 is required to pass through the m-1 beam combiner 442, and the rest of the echo light is received by the 2 nd receiving waveguide 4414, the light received by the 2 nd receiving waveguide 4414 is required To pass through m-1 combiners 442, the receive power of the receive waveguide assembly 44 is approximately [ P ] 1 (dy)*η 1 (dy)+P 2 (dy)*η 2 (dy)]/2 m-2 。
If the light spot corresponding to the echo light is focused in the region S 2 At this time, part of the echo light is received by the 2 nd receiving waveguide 4414, the light received by the 2 nd receiving waveguide 4414 needs to pass through the m-1 beam combiners 442, and the rest of the echo light is received by the 3 rd receiving waveguide 4415, the light received by the 3 rd receiving waveguide 4415 needs to pass through the m-2 beam combiners 442, at this time, the receiving power of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 is approximately [ P ] 2 (dy)*η 2 (dy)/2+P 3 (dy)*η 3 (dy)]/2 m-3 。
If the light spot corresponding to the echo light is focused in the region S x At this time, part of the echo light is received by the x-th receiving waveguide 441, the light received by the x-th receiving waveguide 441 needs to pass through the m+1-x beam combiners 442, and the rest of the echo light is received by the x+1-th receiving waveguide 441, the light received by the x+1-th receiving waveguide 441 needs to pass through the m-x beam combiners 442, and at this time, the receiving power of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 is approximately [ P ] x (dy)*η x (dy)/2+P x+1 (dy)*η x+1 (dy)]/2 m-x-1 。
If the light spot corresponding to the echo light is focused in the region S m At this time, the echo light is almost completely received by the mth receiving waveguide 441, and the light received by the mth receiving waveguide 441 only needs to pass through 1 beam combiner 442, and at this time, the receiving power of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 is approximately P m (dy)/2。
Note that, when the receiving waveguide assembly 44 includes the first beam combiner 4421 and the at least two second beam combiners 4422, the direction in which the first beam combiner 4421 and the at least two second beam combiners 4422 are sequentially connected in series may not coincide with the arrangement direction of the receiving waveguides 441, for example, in fig. 16 and 17, the receiving waveguides 441 connected to the at least two second beam combiners 4422 may be located on opposite sides of the receiving waveguide 441 connected to the first beam combiner 4421 along the first direction y; at this time, the serial connection direction of the first beam combiner 4421 and each second beam combiner 4422 is shown as up-down, or down-up, instead of down or up.
Along the first direction y, the two input ends of the first beam combiner 4421 may be located between the first ends 4411 of the two connected receiving waveguides 441, so that the second ends 4412 of the two receiving waveguides 441 connected to the first beam combiner 4421 may extend in directions approaching each other, reducing the size of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 along the first direction y.
Along the first direction y, the two input ends of the second beam combiner 4422 are located at the side of the connected receiving waveguide 441 facing the first beam combiner 4421, so that the size of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 along the first direction y is reduced. For example, the two input ends of the second combiner 4422 are located between the second end 4412 of the connected receiving waveguide 441 and the output end of the upstream combiner 442.
It should be noted that, the mode field diameter of the first end 4411 of the receiving waveguide 441 may be designed to be substantially equal to the optical mode field diameter of the corresponding return light, so as to ensure that the receiving waveguide 441 has better optical coupling efficiency.
For example, referring to fig. 18, the receiving waveguide 441 includes a first connection portion 4417, the first connection portion 4417 includes a first end portion 4411 and a third end portion 4418 opposite to the first end portion 4411, and a cross-sectional profile of the first connection portion 4417 gradually expands from the first end portion 4411 to the third end portion 4418. That is, the end face of the first end 4411 for receiving the backward wave light is small in size and large in size away from the first end 4411, wherein the small cross-sectional size is convenient to secure a large mode field diameter, the light receiving tolerance of the receiving waveguide 441 is improved, and the caliber gradually increases to be transitionable to a size where light can stably propagate.
The cross-sectional profile of the first connection portion 4417 may be gradually expanded from the first end portion 4411 to the third end portion 4418, or the width of the first connection portion 4417 in the first direction y may be gradually expanded from the first end portion 4411 to the third end portion 4418, and the like, which is not limited thereto. The cross-sectional profile of the first connecting portion 4417 may be smoothly increased at a constant slope or may be increased at a variable slope from the first end portion 4411 to the third end portion 4418, which is not limited. In the embodiment, the cross-sectional profile of the first connecting portion 4417 increases steadily with a constant slope from the first end portion 4411 to the third end portion 4418, and the first connecting portion 4417 is substantially tapered.
The first connection portion 4417 may extend in a straight line direction or may extend in a curved line direction. In the embodiment of the present application, the first connection portion 4417 of each receiving waveguide 441 extends along a straight line direction, and the extending directions of the first connection portions 4417 of each receiving waveguide 441 are substantially parallel. Further, the extending direction of the first connection portion 4417 of each receiving waveguide 441 may be disposed substantially at an angle to the first direction y. Wherein, the included angle between the extending direction of the first connection portion 4417 of each receiving waveguide 441 and the first direction y may be 90 °; of course, the above included angle may be 75 °, 85 °, 95 °, or the like, which is not limited thereto.
Referring to fig. 18, the receiving waveguide 441 further includes a second connection portion 4419, the second connection portion 4419 includes a fourth end portion 4410 and a second end portion 4412 opposite to each other, the fourth end portion 4410 is connected to the third end portion 4418, and a cross-sectional profile of the second connection portion 4419 is kept constant from the fourth end portion 4410 to the second end portion 4412. It should be noted that the first connection portions 4417 of the receiving waveguides 441 are identical and aligned, so as to be beneficial to ensuring that the mode field diameters of the receiving waveguides 441 at the light receiving positions are identical, and that the change rule of the mode field diameters of the receiving waveguides 441 is identical; for the second connection portions 4419, the end of each second connection portion 4419 away from the first connection portion 4417 may not be aligned due to the access of the combiner 442.
The second connection portion 4419 may be disposed to extend in a smooth curved direction to reduce optical loss.
The beam combiner 442 in the embodiment of the present application may be any device capable of combining two or more optical signals and outputting the combined optical signals. For example, the combiner 442 may be a multimode interference (MMI) coupler, a Y-coupler, a star coupler, or the like.
For the above optical chip 4, please refer to fig. 19, which shows a schematic diagram of the optical chip 4 according to one embodiment of the present application, the optical chip 4 further includes an emission waveguide component 41 embedded in the cladding 43. Wherein the cladding 43 is also the structure to which the launch waveguide assembly 41 is attached; the cladding 43 may be made of silicon dioxide and/or silicon oxynitride, etc. The emission waveguide assembly 41 is configured to receive the detection light generated by the light source module in the laser radar 3, and emit the detection light outwards to detect the target object. The transmitting waveguide assembly 41 is embedded in the cladding 43, and the refractive index of the transmitting waveguide assembly 41 is larger than that of the cladding 43; thus, the emission waveguide assembly 41 and the cladding 43 together form a structure for stable light transmission, that is, light can be transmitted along the emission waveguide assembly 41 without easily overflowing outside the optical chip 4 via the cladding 43. For example, when the cladding 43 is made of silicon dioxide, the launch waveguide assembly 41 may be made of silicon nitride having a greater refractive index, although other materials having a refractive index greater than that of the cladding 43, such as silicon, may be used.
Next, the structure of the launch waveguide assembly 41 will be described in detail.
Referring to fig. 20, a schematic diagram of an launching waveguide assembly 41 according to one embodiment of the present application is shown, and in conjunction with fig. 19, the launching waveguide assembly 41 includes at least two launching waveguides 411. The at least two launch waveguides 411 include a first launch waveguide 412 and at least one second launch waveguide 413. The first emission waveguide 412 has an incident end 412m and an emitting end 412n opposite to each other along the extending direction, and the incident end 412m is configured to receive the probe light. The second emission waveguide 413 is disposed opposite to the first emission waveguide 412, and the first emission waveguide 412 and the second emission waveguide 413 are configured to enable the probe light in the first emission waveguide 412 to enter the second emission waveguide 413, so that the emission waveguide assembly 41 outputs a beam of probe light together through the at least two emission waveguides 411. That is, the launch waveguide assembly 41 of the present embodiment can realize single-waveguide input multi-waveguide output.
Wherein, the second emission waveguide 413 and the first emission waveguide 412 may be disposed opposite to each other: the second emission waveguide 413 has an extending direction substantially the same as that of the first emission waveguide 412, and is arranged to be opposite to each other in a direction perpendicular to the extending direction of the first emission waveguide 412.
It is to be understood that the emission waveguide assembly 41 is configured to output the probe light via at least two emission waveguides 411, and the emission waveguide assembly 41 may be configured to output one beam of the probe light via the first emission waveguide 412 and the second emission waveguide 413 together, or the emission waveguide assembly 41 may be configured to output one beam of the probe light via two or more second emission waveguides 413 together, which is not limited in this application.
In this embodiment, the emission waveguide assembly 41 is configured to output a beam of probe light together through the first emission waveguide 412 and the second emission waveguide 413. At this time, the number of the second transmitting waveguides 413 may be specifically one second transmitting waveguide 413, two second transmitting waveguides 413, three second transmitting waveguides 413, and the like, which is not limited in this application. If the probe light is output from the emission waveguide assembly 41 by one first emission waveguide 412 and more than two second emission waveguides 413, the more than two second emission waveguides 413 can be distributed on the periphery of the first emission waveguide 412 in a circumferential array around the extending direction of the first emission waveguide 412, so that the probe light transmitted by the first emission waveguide 412 can be more gently coupled into the peripheral second emission waveguide 413.
The two or more launch waveguides 411 may include a first launch waveguide 412 and at least one second launch waveguide 413. With continued reference to fig. 20, the first transmitting waveguide 412 includes a first input portion 4121 and a first coupling portion 4122. In the illustrated second direction x, the first input 4121 is located upstream of the first coupling 4122 and beyond the second launch waveguide 413. The end of the first input portion 4121 facing away from the first coupling portion 4122 is the incident end 412m, and the first input portion 4121 is configured to receive the probe light through the incident end 412m, so that the probe light enters the first emission waveguide 412 and propagates along the first emission waveguide. It should be noted that, the "second direction x" described herein is an extending direction determined by the first emission waveguide 412 extending from the incident end 412m to the exit end 412 n.
In this embodiment, the first direction y is a direction perpendicular to the thickness direction of the optical chip 4, and the second direction x is a direction perpendicular to the first direction y and the thickness direction of the optical chip 4, respectively; the transmitting waveguide assembly 41 and each receiving waveguide 441 are also sequentially arranged along the first direction y; it should be understood that, in other embodiments of the present application, the second direction x may also be other directions, for example, an angle is formed between the second direction x and the thickness direction of the optical chip 4, which is not specifically limited in the present application. The end of the transmitting waveguide assembly 41 outputting the probe light and the end of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 receiving the echo light are located at the same end of the optical chip 4 so that the receiving waveguide assembly 44 can receive the echo light.
Along the second direction x, the first coupling portion 4122 is located downstream of the first input portion 4121 to transmit the probe light entering the first emission waveguide 412 through the first input portion 4121. Accordingly, the second transmitting waveguide 413 includes a second coupling portion 4131 disposed opposite to the first coupling portion 4122, and the first coupling portion 4122 and the second coupling portion 4131 are configured to couple the probe light in the first coupling portion 4122 into the second coupling portion 4131. In this embodiment, along the second direction x, the cross-sectional profile of the first coupling portion 4122 gradually contracts, for example, the width of the first coupling portion 4122 gradually decreases; the cross-sectional profile of the second coupling portion 4131 remains constant. Thus, the first coupling portion 4122 and the second coupling portion 4131 together form a module capable of realizing optical coupling, and the light overflows to the second coupling portion 4131 during the process of transmitting in the first coupling portion 4122. Specifically, the first coupling portion 4122 is narrowed in cross-sectional profile along the second direction x so that the probe light in the first coupling portion 4122 can overflow, and the overflow probe light can enter the second emission waveguide 413, thereby realizing that the probe light is output from the plurality of emission waveguides 411. Since the probe light is changed from being originally transmitted in one of the emission waveguides 411 to being transmitted by the first emission waveguide 412 and the second emission waveguide 413, the mode field size of the probe light will become large; and according to the divergence angle theta and the mode field radius omega of the emergent light beam 0 As can be seen from the following equation (1), the increase of the mode field of the detection light can reduce the divergence angle of the outgoing beam, thereby being beneficial to improving the resolution of the laser radar 3 during detection.
θ=λ/(πω 0 ) （1）
In some embodiments, the first coupling is in the above-mentioned second direction x, viewed in a direction perpendicular to the optical chip 4The width of portion 4122 may be defined by b 0 Gradually decrease to b 1 Wherein b 0 >b 1 ，0.5μm ≤ b 0 ≤1.2μm，0.2μm ≤ b 1 Less than or equal to 0.9 mu m. The width of the second coupling portion 4131 may be kept constant along the second direction x; specifically, the width of the second coupling portion 4131 may be a 0 ，0.1μm ≤ a 0 ≤0.4μm。
As for the case of the interval between the first coupling portion 4122 and the second coupling portion 4131 in the second direction x, the interval may be kept constant. Specifically, in the second direction x, the spacing between the first coupling portion 4122 and the second coupling portion 4131 may be maintained at g 1 Wherein, g is more than or equal to 0.2 mu m 1 Less than or equal to 1.2 mu m; so as to satisfy the manufacturing process on the one hand and to allow an optical coupling effect to occur between the first coupling portion 4122 and the second coupling portion 4131 on the other hand. Note that, the distance between the first coupling portion 4122 and the second coupling portion 4131 described in the present application means: a space between the center line of the first coupling portion 4122 and the center line of the second coupling portion 4131. Wherein, the central line of a certain part described in the application document is satisfied, the extending direction of the central line is consistent with the extending direction of the part, and the width of the part at two sides of the central line is the same.
In this embodiment, the first emission waveguide 412 further includes a first output portion 4123, and along the second direction x, the first output portion 4123 is located downstream of the first coupling portion 4122; the second launch waveguide 413 further includes a second output portion 4132 disposed opposite the first output portion 4123, the second output portion 4132 being located downstream of the second coupling portion 4131 in the second direction x. Wherein the emission waveguide assembly 41 is configured to output the probe light via the first output portion 4123 and the second output portion 4132. In this embodiment, the emission waveguide assembly 41 includes a first emission waveguide 412 and two second emission waveguides 413, the two second emission waveguides 413 are respectively located at two opposite sides of the first emission waveguide 412, and the probe light is output by the first emission waveguide 412 and the two second emission waveguides 413. Alternatively, the two second emission waveguides 413 may be located at opposite sides of the first emission waveguide 412 along the width direction of the first emission waveguide 412, respectively, so as to be able to reduce the divergence angle of the outgoing light beam of the emission waveguide assembly 41 along the width direction of the first emission waveguide 412; of course, in other embodiments, the direction of arrangement between the emission waveguides 411 may not coincide with the width direction of the first emission waveguide 412. In addition, although the present embodiment has been described taking the example in which the emission waveguide assembly 41 outputs the probe light via the first output portion 4123 and the second output portion 4132, it is to be understood that the present application is not limited thereto, as long as it is ensured that the probe light is commonly output via the first emission waveguide 412 and the second emission waveguide 413; for example, in other embodiments of the present application, the emission waveguide assembly 41 may also output the probe light via the first coupling portion 4122 and the second coupling portion 4131.
Alternatively, the width of the first output portion 4123 may remain unchanged in the second direction x; in the second direction x, the width of the second output portion 4132 may remain unchanged. For example, in the second direction x, the width of the first output portion 4123 is kept at b 2 The width of the second output portion 4132 is kept at a 1 Wherein b is 0.1 μm 2 ≤ 0.35μm，0.1 μm ≤ a 1 ≤ 0.35μm。
As for the distance between the second output portion 4132 and the first output portion 4123 along the second direction x, the distance may be gradually increased, so as to further enlarge the mode field size of the outgoing probe light, further reduce the divergence angle of the outgoing probe light, and improve the resolution of the laser radar 3 during detection. The distance between the second output portion 4132 and the first output portion 4123 in the second direction x may be increased smoothly with a fixed slope or with a variable slope, which is not limited thereto. In this embodiment, the rate of change of the distance between the second output portion 4132 and the first output portion 4123 in the second direction x is changed from small to large and then small, that is, the distance between the second output portion 4132 and the first output portion 4123 in the second direction x is first increased by a small margin and then increased by a large margin and then increased by a small margin, so as to ensure that the first output portion 4123 is directly and gently connected to the upstream portion thereof, thereby realizing the mode field expansion of the outgoing beam while ensuring that the transmission direction of the probe light output through the first output portion 4123 is consistent with the transmission direction of the probe light output through the second output portion 4132 and making the overall extension shape of the first output portion 4123 gentle on the premise of reducing the probe light loss. Note that, the distance between the second output portion 4132 and the first output portion 4123 described in the present application means: a distance between the center line of the second output portion 4132 and the center line of the first output portion 4123.
In some embodiments, the spacing between the second output 4132 and the first output 4123 in the second direction x is defined by g 1 Gradually become g 2 Wherein g 2 >g 1 ，1μm ≤ g 2 ≤3μm。
Optionally, if the emission waveguide assembly 41 includes more than two second emission waveguides 413, in the second direction x, the change rule of the interval between the second output portion 4132 and the first output portion 4123 of each second emission waveguide 413 may be kept consistent, so that the detected light quantity in each second emission waveguide 413 may be relatively balanced, thereby reducing the light intensity difference of each portion of the light spot formed by the outgoing light beam, and improving the detection performance of the laser radar 3. Specifically, the second output portions 4132 may be distributed in a circumferential array on the periphery of the first output portion 4123, and the shapes of the second output portions 4132 may be substantially the same.
In this embodiment, the first transmitting waveguide 412 may further include a first transmitting portion 4124, where the first transmitting portion 4124 is connected to the first coupling portion 4122 along the second direction x and is located downstream of the first coupling portion 4122; the second transmitting waveguide 413 may further include a second transmitting portion 4133 disposed opposite to the first transmitting portion 4124, the second transmitting portion 4133 being connected to the second coupling portion 4131 along the second direction x and located downstream of the second coupling portion 4131. Along the second direction x, the cross-sectional profile of the first transmission portion 4124 gradually contracts, and the cross-sectional profile of the second transmission portion 4133 gradually contracts; this arrangement is intended to play a role of further expanding the mode field size of the probe light when the probe light is transmitted in the first transmission section 4124 and the second transmission section 4133 by contracting the width of each of the emission waveguides 411. Thus, when the detection light passes through the first coupling portion 4122, a part of the optical signal is coupled into the second coupling portion 4131, and the mode field size of the detection light is primarily increased; when the probe light passes through the first transmission portion 4124 and the second transmission portion 4133, the mode field size of the probe light further increases; when the detection light passes through the first output portion 4123 and the second output portion 4132, the mode field size of the detection light increases even further; in other words, the mode field size of the detection light is increased three times, so that the detection light can have a larger mode field size during emergent light, and a smaller divergence angle during emergent light can be ensured.
The width of the first transfer portion 4124 may be smoothly reduced at a fixed rate of change or may be reduced at a varying slope in the second direction x, which is not limited. Similarly, the width of the second transmission portion 4133 may be smoothly reduced with a fixed slope or may be reduced with a varying slope along the second direction x, which is not limited. Alternatively, in the second direction x, the width variation rule of the first transmission portion 4124 and the width variation rule of the second transmission portion 4133 may be substantially the same. For example, in some embodiments, the width of the first transfer portion 4124 may be defined by b in the second direction x 1 Gradually decrease to b 2 The method comprises the steps of carrying out a first treatment on the surface of the The width of the second transmission portion 4133 in the second direction x may be defined by a 0 Gradually decreasing to a width a at one end connected to the second output portion 4132 1 . In the present embodiment, the first coupling portion 4122 and the first output portion 4123 are indirectly connected through the first transmission portion 4124 with a variable width, so b is the above 2 Less than b 1 The method comprises the steps of carrying out a first treatment on the surface of the Of course, in other embodiments of the present application, if the first coupling portion 4122 is directly connected to the first output portion 4123, b is as described above 2 Can be equal to b 1 . Similarly, in the present embodiment, the second coupling portion 4131 and the second output portion 4132 are indirectly connected through the second transmission portion 4133 with a variable width, so a is described above 1 Less than a 0 The method comprises the steps of carrying out a first treatment on the surface of the Of course, in other embodiments of the present application, if the second coupling portion 4131 is directly connected to the second output portion 4132, the above-mentioned a 1 May be equal to a 0 。
As for the distance between the first transmission portion 4124 and the second transmission portion 4133, it may be that the distance between the first transmission portion 4124 and the second transmission portion 4133 is kept constant along the second direction x. In particularIn the second direction x, the spacing between the first and second transfer portions 4124 and 4133 may be maintained at g 1 . Note that, the distance between the first conveying portion 4124 and the second conveying portion 4133 described in the present application means: a space between the center line of the first transmission portion 4124 and the center line of the second transmission portion 4133.
In this embodiment, the first transmitting waveguide 412 further includes a third coupling portion 4125; the third coupling portion 4125 is connected to the first coupling portion 4122 in the second direction x and is located upstream of the first coupling portion 4122. Accordingly, the second launch waveguide 413 further includes a fourth coupling portion 4134 disposed opposite the third coupling portion 4125; the fourth coupling portion 4134 is connected to the second coupling portion along the second direction x and is located upstream of the second coupling portion 4131; the third coupling portion 4125 and the fourth coupling portion 4134 are configured to couple the probe light in the third coupling portion 4125 into the fourth coupling portion 4134. In this embodiment, the distance between the fourth coupling portion 4134 and the third coupling portion 4125 is gradually reduced along the second direction x. For example, the spacing between the third coupling portion 4125 and the fourth coupling portion 4134 may gradually decrease to g along the second direction x 1 . The arrangement that the distance between the third coupling portion 4125 and the fourth coupling portion 4134 is gradually pulled up aims to make the probe light begin to be primarily coupled at the third coupling portion 4125 and the fourth coupling portion 4134, so as to overcome the defect of high coupling loss caused by directly beginning to be coupled at the first coupling portion 4122 and the second coupling portion 4131.
Alternatively, the width of the third coupling portion 4125 may be kept constant along the above-described second direction x. For example, in the second direction x, the width of the third coupling portion 4125 may be maintained at b 0 . The width of the fourth coupling portion 4134 remains unchanged along the second direction x. For example, the width of the fourth coupling portion 4134 may be maintained at a along the second direction x 0 . The width of the fourth coupling portion 4134 may be smaller than the minimum width of the third coupling portion 4125.
As for the change in the distance between the third coupling portion 4125 and the fourth coupling portion 4134 along the second direction x, the change may be smoothly reduced at a fixed change rate or reduced at a variable change rate, which is not limited. In this embodiment, the rate of change of the distance between the third coupling portion 4125 and the fourth coupling portion 4134 along the second direction x is changed from small to large to small, that is, the distance between the third coupling portion 4125 and the fourth coupling portion 4134 along the second direction x is first reduced by a small extent, then reduced by a large extent, and then reduced by a small extent, so as to achieve smooth approaching of the first emission waveguide 412 and the second emission waveguide 413 in the second direction x, and improve the coupling efficiency between the first emission waveguide 412 and the second emission waveguide 413.
Further, in the present embodiment, the first input portion 4121 includes a first portion 4121p and a second portion 4121q that are connected to each other. Along the second direction x, the first portion 4121p has the above-described incident end 412m, which receives the probe light generated by the light source module via the incident end 412 m. The second portion 4121q is connected to an end of the first portion 4121p facing away from the incident end 412m and is located upstream of the first coupling portion 4122 for conveying the detection light toward the third coupling portion 4125 and the first coupling portion 4122. Wherein the width of the first portion 4121p may remain unchanged and the width of the second portion 4121q may gradually decrease; for example, the width of the second portion 4121q may be gradually reduced to a width b0 at an end thereof facing away from the first portion 4121 p. The arrangement is intended to allow the first input portion 4121, after receiving the probe light, to vary in width to conform to the downstream waveguide structure to direct the probe light to the downstream waveguide structure; for example, the optical chip 4 further includes a waveguide structure located upstream of the first input portion 4121, where the width of the first portion 4121p corresponds to the width of the upstream waveguide structure, and the width of the second portion 4121q away from the first portion 4121p corresponds to the downstream waveguide structure, so that the first input portion 4121 can couple the probe light into the downstream waveguide structure with a low loss.
For the first emission waveguide 412, the first emission waveguide may extend along a straight line direction, so that the second emission waveguide 413 is adjusted by bending the first emission waveguide 412, so as to reduce the design difficulty of the emission waveguide assembly 41 and improve the production efficiency.
The structure of the emission waveguide assembly 41 is described above, and the emission waveguide assembly 41 includes the first emission waveguide 412 and the second emission waveguides 413 disposed at two sides of the first emission waveguide 412, and the divergence of the probe light output by the optical chip 4 and the optical chip in the related art in this embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 20 to 26.
As described above, the first emission waveguide 412 may include the first input portion 4121, the third coupling portion 4125, the first coupling portion 4122, the first transmission portion 4124 and the first output portion 4123 sequentially connected along the second direction x, and the second emission waveguide 413 may include the fourth coupling portion 4134, the second coupling portion 4131, the second transmission portion 4133 and the second output portion 4132 sequentially connected along the second direction x. The interface between the first portion 4121p and the second portion 4121q is referred to as a first interface c, the interface between the second portion 4121q and the third coupling portion 4125 is referred to as a second interface d, the interface between the third coupling portion 4125 and the first coupling portion 4122 is referred to as a third interface e, the interface between the first coupling portion 4122 and the first transmitting portion 4124 is referred to as a fourth interface f, the interface between the first transmitting portion 4124 and the first output portion 4123 is referred to as a fifth interface s, and the exit end face of the first output portion 4123 is referred to as a sixth interface t. An end surface of the fourth coupling portion 4134 facing away from the second coupling portion 4131 may be coplanar with the second interface d, an interface between the fourth coupling portion 4134 and the second coupling portion 4131 may be coplanar with the third interface e, an interface between the second coupling portion 4131 and the second transmitting portion 4133 may be coplanar with the fourth interface f, an interface between the second transmitting portion 4133 and the second output portion 4132 may be coplanar with the fifth interface s, and an exit end surface of the second output portion 4132 may be coplanar with the sixth interface t.
Alternatively, the first interface c, the second interface d, the third interface e, the fourth interface f, the fifth interface s, and the sixth interface t may be parallel to each other or may intersect with each other, which is not limited.
Fig. 21 shows a gray scale of a schematic of light field propagation of the emission waveguide assembly 41 when used for transmitting probe light, fig. 22 shows a gray scale of a schematic of mode evolution of the emission waveguide assembly 41 when used for transmitting probe light, wherein a mode at the first interface c is denoted as mode 1, a mode at the fourth interface f is denoted as mode 2, a mode at the fifth interface s is denoted as mode 3, and a mode at the sixth interface t is denoted as mode 4; as can be seen from fig. 21 and 22, the mode 1 at the first interface c is a fundamental mode, the mode 2 at the fourth interface f and the mode 3 at the fifth interface s have gradually evolved into the fundamental mode in the composite waveguide, the mode field size of the mode 2 is intersected and increased in the mode 1, the mode field size of the mode 3 is further increased compared with the mode 2, and the mode field size of the mode 4 at the sixth interface t is further increased compared with the mode 3. In this way, the mode field size of the launch waveguide assembly 41 at which the probe light is finally emitted is significantly increased compared to the mode field size at which the probe light is initially received; according to the relationship between the divergence angle and the mode field size, the increase of the mode field size is beneficial to reducing the divergence angle of the outgoing beam, so that the resolution of the laser radar 3 during detection can be improved.
Further, referring to fig. 23 and 24, fig. 23 shows a schematic beam transmission diagram of the related art when a single emission waveguide 411' (i.e. only the first emission waveguide) is used for single input and single output, fig. 24 shows a schematic beam transmission diagram of the emission waveguide assembly 41 of the present embodiment when the single emission waveguide is used for single input and multi-waveguide output, wherein the emission waveguide 411 of the emission waveguide assembly 41 of fig. 24 and the single emission waveguide 411' of the related art shown in fig. 23 are substantially the same width, and the emission waveguide assembly 41 of fig. 24 and the single emission waveguide 411' of fig. 23 are used for single input and single output when the same fundamental mode energy is injected, and the far field of the target object (such as an automobile, a pedestrian or a target) is shown in fig. 25, the emission waveguide assembly 41 of fig. 24 corresponds to the emission beam of the target object, and the light spot of the target object is shown in fig. 26, and the emission waveguide assembly 41 of the present embodiment is also shown in fig. 25 and fig. 26, and the divergence angle of the emission waveguide assembly 41 of the present embodiment is better than that the single emission waveguide assembly of the related art is shown in fig. 3, and the far field of the target object is better.
In some embodiments, the lidar 3 further comprises a scanning device 6, and with continued reference to fig. 24, the scanning device 6 is located downstream of the optical path of the emission waveguide assembly 41, and is configured to receive the probe light emitted from the optical chip 4 and deflect the probe light in one or two dimensions so as to form a specific probe field of view in the lidar 3. Since the divergence angle of the outgoing beam of the emission waveguide assembly 41 is reduced, the spot size of the outgoing beam when reaching the scanning device 6 can be reduced, so that the small-sized scanning device 6 can meet the use requirement, thereby being beneficial to miniaturization and integration convenience of the laser radar 3. The scanning device 6 may be a galvanometer and/or a turning mirror, and the like, and is not limited thereto.
If the launch waveguide assembly 41 includes more than two second launch waveguides 413, the more than two second launch waveguides 413 may be disposed at intervals around the extending direction of the first launch waveguide 412 at the periphery of the first launch waveguide 412, so that the probe light transmitted by the first coupling portion 4122 of the first launch waveguide 412 can be coupled into the second coupling portion 4131 of the peripheral second launch waveguide 413.
It should be noted that, the specific structure of the launch waveguide assembly 41 may be adjusted according to the required divergence angle; for example, the number of the emission waveguides 411 included in the emission waveguide assembly 41, the interval between the second emission waveguide 413 and the first emission waveguide 412, and the like may be adjusted according to the size of the desired divergence angle, which is not limited. In particular, in the case where the interval between the second emission waveguide 413 and the first emission waveguide 412 is not changed, the number of emission waveguides 411 included in the emission waveguide assembly 41 may be increased such that the smaller the divergence angle of the outgoing light beam of the emission waveguide assembly 41. In particular, in the case where the number of the emission waveguides 411 included in the emission waveguide assembly 41 is not changed, the interval between the second emission waveguide 413 and the first emission waveguide 412 may be increased such that the smaller the divergence angle of the outgoing light beam of the emission waveguide assembly 41 is.
It should be noted that an antireflection film may be coated on the exit end surface of the emission waveguide assembly 41, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing the reflectivity at the exit end surface and improving the light beam exit efficiency.
It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the first transmitting waveguide 412 includes the first input portion 4121, the third coupling portion 4125, the first coupling portion 4122, the first transmitting portion 4124 and the first output portion 4123, but in some cases, one or more of the first input portion 4121, the third coupling portion 4125, the first transmitting portion 4124 and the first output portion 4123 may be omitted; accordingly, one or more of the fourth coupling portion 4134, the second transmitting portion 4133, and the second output portion 4132 in the second transmitting waveguide 413 may be omitted. For example, in some embodiments, the emission waveguide assembly 41 may receive the probe light via the first coupling portion 4122 and output the probe light via the first coupling portion 4122 and the second coupling portion 4131.
In summary, the mobile device 1 provided in the embodiment of the present application includes the laser radar 3, and the laser radar 3 further includes the optical chip 4. The optical chip 4 includes a cladding 43 and an emission waveguide assembly 41, wherein the emission waveguide assembly 41 is configured to receive the probe light and output the probe light to the outside of the optical chip. The launch waveguide assembly 41 comprises at least two launch waveguides 411, the at least two launch waveguides 411 specifically comprising a first launch waveguide 412 and at least a second launch waveguide 413. The emission waveguide assembly 41 is configured to receive probe light via a first emission waveguide 412 and output probe light via at least two emission waveguides 411. According to the embodiment of the application, the mode that the emission waveguides 411 are used for inputting the detection light and the emission waveguides 411 are used for outputting the detection light is adopted, so that the mode field size of the detection light emitted by the emission waveguide assembly 41 is larger, the divergence angle of the emitted detection light is smaller, the size of a light spot of the detection light falling on a target object is reduced, and the resolution of detection is improved.
It should be noted that, the above description is given taking the example that the end of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 receiving the echo light and the end of the transmitting waveguide assembly 41 emitting the echo light are located at the same end of the optical chip 4; however, it should be understood that, in other embodiments of the present application, the end of the receiving waveguide assembly 44 that receives the echo light and the end of the transmitting waveguide assembly 41 that outputs the echo light may be located at different ends of the optical chip 4, where an optical element that separates the transmitting optical path from the echo optical path needs to be separately disposed for splitting, for example, an optical circulator, or a combination of light guiding elements such as a birefringent crystal and a reflecting mirror.
As for the above-mentioned emission waveguide assembly 41, it should be added that, even though the above-mentioned embodiment is described by taking the emission waveguide assembly 41 to output the probe light together through the first emission waveguide 412 and the second emission waveguide 413 as an example, the application is not limited thereto, as long as the emission waveguide assembly 41 is guaranteed to receive the probe light through the first emission waveguide 412 and output a beam of the probe light through at least two emission waveguides 411.
For example, fig. 27 and 28 show schematic diagrams of an emission waveguide assembly provided in another embodiment of the present application, where the emission waveguide assembly 41 outputs probe light via at least two emission waveguides 411, specifically, the emission waveguide assembly 41 outputs probe light via at least two second emission waveguides 413. Compared with the embodiment shown in fig. 20 in which the emission waveguide assembly 41 outputs the detection light through the first emission waveguide 412 and the second emission waveguide 413, the first emission waveguide 412 does not output the detection light any more in the embodiment.
Specifically, the launch waveguide assembly 41 in the present embodiment is substantially the same as the structure of the launch waveguide assembly 41 in the embodiment shown in fig. 20, except that: the first emission waveguide 412 in the present embodiment is not provided with the first output portion 4123 as compared with the first emission waveguide 412 in the embodiment shown in fig. 20. Thus, along the second direction x, the second output portion 4132 of each second emission waveguide 413 is disposed beyond the first emission waveguide 412; the emission waveguide assembly 41 may output the probe light via the second output portion 4132 of each second emission waveguide 413.
Similar to the emission waveguide assembly 41 in the above embodiment, the emission waveguide assembly 41 in the present embodiment can also increase the mode field size when the probe light exits, so as to reduce the divergence angle of the probe light, and improve the resolution when the laser radar 3 detects.
In the description of the present application, it should be understood that the terms "first," "second," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. The specific meaning of the terms in this application will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art in a specific context. Furthermore, in the description of the present application, unless otherwise indicated, "a plurality" means at least two, for example, two, three, four, and the like. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship.
The foregoing disclosure is only illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of the claims herein, as the equivalent of the claims herein shall be construed to fall within the scope of the claims herein.

Claims (17)

1. The optical chip is characterized by comprising a cladding and a receiving waveguide assembly embedded in the cladding, wherein the receiving waveguide assembly is used for receiving the reflected wave light and comprises at least three receiving waveguides and at least two beam combiners;
the receiving waveguides comprise a first end and a second end which are oppositely arranged, the first end is used for receiving the echo light, the receiving waveguides are arranged at intervals along a first direction, and the first direction is parallel to the end face of the first end, which is away from the second end; and
the beam combiner comprises two input ends and an output end, the at least two beam combiners comprise a first beam combiners and a second beam combiners, each input end of the first beam combiners is respectively connected with a second end of the receiving waveguide,
an input end of the second beam combiner is connected with a second end of the receiving waveguide, the receiving waveguides connected with the input ends of the beam combiners are different, and the other input end of the second beam combiner is connected with an output end of the beam combiner.
2. The optical chip of claim 1, wherein the receiving waveguide assembly comprises at least four receiving waveguides including a first receiving waveguide, a second receiving waveguide, a third receiving waveguide, and a fourth receiving waveguide, the first receiving waveguide and the second receiving waveguide being respectively outermost receiving waveguides of the receiving waveguides along the first direction, the third receiving waveguide and the fourth receiving waveguide being located between the first receiving waveguide and the second receiving waveguide along the first direction;
the first receiving waveguide, the third receiving waveguide and the fourth receiving waveguide are all connected with the beam combiner, and the second receiving waveguide is not connected with the beam combiner.
3. The optical chip of claim 1, wherein the receiving waveguide assembly comprises at least four receiving waveguides, the at least one combiner comprises a first combiner and at least two second combiners connected in series in sequence, the receiving waveguides connected to each of the second combiners are located on the same side of the receiving waveguides connected to the first combiner along the first direction;
The receiving waveguide connected to the second beam combiner located upstream is closer to the receiving waveguide connected to the first beam combiner than the receiving waveguide connected to the second beam combiner located downstream along the serial direction from the first beam combiner to the second beam combiner in turn.
4. The optical chip of claim 1, further comprising a phase compensator;
the phase compensator is arranged between the two beam combiners which are connected in series, and is used for compensating the phase change of the echo light when the echo light passes through the beam combiners at the upstream.
5. The optical chip of claim 1, wherein the receiving waveguide comprises a first connection portion;
the first connecting portion includes the first end portion and a third end portion opposite to the first end portion, and a cross-sectional profile of the first connecting portion gradually expands from the first end portion to the third end portion.
6. The optical chip of claim 5, wherein the receiving waveguide further comprises a second connection portion;
the second connecting portion comprises a fourth end portion and a second end portion which are opposite, the fourth end portion is connected to the third end portion, and the cross-sectional profile of the second connecting portion is kept constant from the fourth end portion to the second end portion.
7. The optical chip of claim 1, wherein, in the first direction, the two input ends of the first combiner are located between the first ends of the two connected receiving waveguides;
along the first direction, the two input ends of the second beam combiner are positioned at one side of the connected receiving waveguide, which faces the first beam combiner.
8. The optical chip of claim 1, wherein the mode field diameter of the first end is a first diameter D, and the distance between the first ends of two adjacent receiving waveguides is a first distance L;
the optical chip satisfies the following conditions: D/L is more than or equal to 0.6 and less than or equal to 2.0.
9. The optical chip according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the beam combiner is an MMI coupler, a Y-coupler or a star coupler.
10. The optical chip of any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising an emission waveguide assembly embedded in the cladding layer, the emission waveguide assembly configured to receive probe light and output the probe light out of the optical chip;
the launch waveguide assembly includes at least two launch waveguides including:
the first emission waveguide is provided with an incident end and an emergent end which are opposite, and the incident end is used for receiving the detection light; and
At least one second launch waveguide disposed opposite the first launch waveguide, the first launch waveguide and the second launch waveguide configured to enable probe light in the first launch waveguide to be coupled into the second launch waveguide such that the launch waveguide assembly outputs a beam of the probe light in common via at least two of the launch waveguides;
one end of the emission waveguide component, which emits the detection light, and one end of the receiving waveguide component, which receives the return light, are positioned at the same end of the optical chip.
11. The optical chip of claim 10, wherein the first emission waveguide comprises a first coupling portion and the second emission waveguide comprises a second coupling portion, the first coupling portion disposed opposite the second coupling portion, the first coupling portion and the second coupling portion configured to couple probe light in the first coupling portion into the second coupling portion.
12. The optical chip of claim 11, wherein the direction of extension of the first emission waveguide from the incident end to the exit end is a first direction;
the cross-sectional profile of the first coupling portion gradually contracts along the first direction;
The cross-sectional profile of the second coupling portion remains constant along the first direction.
13. The optical chip of claim 12, wherein the launch waveguide assembly is configured to output the probe light via the first launch waveguide and the second launch waveguide;
the first emission waveguide further comprises a first output part, the first output part is positioned at the downstream of the first coupling part along a first direction, and the first direction is an extending direction determined by the first emission waveguide extending from the incident end to the emergent end;
the second launch waveguide further comprises a second output part arranged opposite to the first output part, and the second output part is positioned downstream of the second coupling part along the first direction;
the emission waveguide assembly is configured to output the probe light via the first output section and the second output section;
the distance between the second output part and the first output part is gradually increased along the first direction.
14. The optical chip of claim 12, wherein the at least two launch waveguides include at least two of the second launch waveguides, the launch waveguide assembly configured to output the probe light via each of the second launch waveguides;
The second launch waveguide further comprises a second output section;
the second output part is positioned at the downstream of the second coupling part along a first direction and exceeds the first emission waveguide, and the first direction is the extending direction determined by the first emission waveguide extending from the incident end to the emergent end;
the emission waveguide assembly is configured to output the probe light via each of the second output sections;
the distance between the second output parts is gradually increased along the first direction.
15. A lidar comprising the optical chip of any of claims 1 to 14.
16. An autopilot system comprising the lidar of claim 15.
17. A mobile device comprising the lidar of claim 15; alternatively, an autopilot system comprising the autopilot system of claim 16.
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