1.79-GHz acquisition rate absolute distance measurement with lithium niobate electro-optic comb

Yifan Qi, Xingyu Jia, Jingyi Wang, Weiwei Yang, Yihan Miao, Xinlun Cai (), Guanhao Wu () and Yang Li ()
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Yifan Qi: Tsinghua University
Xingyu Jia: Tsinghua University
Jingyi Wang: Sun Yat-sen University
Weiwei Yang: Tsinghua University
Yihan Miao: Tsinghua University
Xinlun Cai: Sun Yat-sen University
Guanhao Wu: Tsinghua University
Yang Li: Tsinghua University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract AI-empowered autonomous vehicles must sense the fast-changing three-dimensional environments with high speed and precision. However, the tradeoff between acquisition rate and non-ambiguity range prevents most LiDARs from achieving high-speed absolute distance measurement. Here we demonstrate a lithium niobate electro-optic comb-enabled ultrafast absolute distance measurement method — repetition rate-modulated frequency comb (RRMFC). We achieved an integrated lithium-niobate phase modulator with a half-wave voltage of 1.47 V, leading to over 50 sidebands and a repetition rate can be tuned over 12 GHz in 4 μs. Leveraging these unique features, RRMFC can coherently measure the distance by detecting interference peaks in the time domain, leading to acquisition rates up to 1.79 GHz and a large non-ambiguity range. This single-channel acquisition rate is over 4 orders of magnitude higher than the state-of-the-art absolute distance measurement system. Thus, RRMFC-based LiDAR allows autonomous vehicles to sense the fine details of a fast-changing environment using a single laser.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58018-8

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