Abstract
An optical vortex was applied in an underwater lidar system to improve ranging accuracy. A self-developed intensity modulated continuous wave 532 nm laser beam was used as the light source. The detector was a photomultiplier tube (PMT). The output signal from the PMT was correlated with a reference signal to retrieve the distance of the target. A spiral phase plate (SPP) was inserted before the detector to convert the spatially coherent target reflection onto an optical vortex ring. A mask with a transparent ring that matched the vortex was used to block the scattering light distributed inside and outside the ring. Experimental results showed that the ranging error was significantly reduced in a turbid medium by the method, in addition, a high-order SPP worked better. With a 24-order SPP, we obtained a ranging error reduction from 20 cm to 2.73 cm when the attenuation length was 9.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 927-930 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | IEEE Photonics Technology Letters |
Volume | 34 |
Issue number | 17 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Sept 2022 |
Keywords
- Scattering
- laser radar
- remote sensing
- sea measurements