用于多线激光雷达的窄脉宽高峰电流激光二极管驱动方法（英文）

Laser diode drive method with narrow-width and high-peak current for multi-line LIDAR

基于时间飞行法(Time of flight, TOF)的激光雷达(Light detection and ranging, LIDAR)被广泛应用于与距离测量有关的多种领域。激光雷达一般利用激光二极管(Laser diode, LD)发射具有高峰值功率和短持续时间的脉冲激光,以保证实现较大的距离测量并兼顾人眼安全。为实现这一目标,提出了一种能够实现高峰值和窄脉宽驱动电流的脉冲激光二极管驱动方法。分析了基于该种方法产生驱动电流的关键问题和相关理论,并且设计了一个激光二极管驱动器。建立了驱动电流产生的模型,重点研究了工作频率对驱动电流的影响。该驱动器由软件模拟并通过实验验证。实际实验中,驱动器的工作频率从20 kHz到100 kHz变化,充电电压设置为130 V。此驱动器产生的脉冲电流持续时间为8.8 ns,峰值约为35 A。所驱动的激光二极管峰值输出光功率超过75 W。

Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) based on time of flight (TOF) method is widely used in many fields related to distance measurement. LIDAR generally uses laser diode (LD) to emit the pulsed laser with high peak power and short duration to ensure a large distance measurement range and eye safety. To achieve this goal, we propose a pulsed LD drive method producing the drive current with high peak and narrow pulse width. We analyze the key issues and related theories of the drive current generation based on this method and design an LD driver. A model of drive current generation is established and the influence of operating frequency on drive current is discussed. The LD driver is simulated by software and verified by experiments. The working frequency of the driver changes from 20 kHz to 100 kHz and the charging voltage is set at 130 V. The current produced by this driver has a duration of 8.8 ns and a peak of about 35 A, and the peak output optical power of the LD exceeds 75 W.