Compact and Eye-Safe Laser Source on a Silicon Chip for Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) Systems in Self-Driving Vehicles

光探测和测距（LIDAR）传感器将是未来全自动自动驾驶汽车的关键要素，这将为我们提供更安全、更方便的出行方式。激光雷达传感器发送和接收光信号，以快速检测车辆周围物体的距离和速度，从而使车辆能够对其环境做出反应。目前，基于光纤的激光器被用作LIDAR传感器的高性能和人眼安全的光源，但它们相对较大，尺寸无法进一步缩小。为了实现在未来所有车辆中实施的预期目标，汽车LIDAR系统必须更加紧凑，同时还必须低成本和可批量生产。 在这个项目中，麦克马斯特大学的研究人员与ITF技术公司合作，将为激光雷达传感器开发新的高度紧凑的激光器和光子微系统。麦克马斯特大学团队将利用他们在稀土掺杂薄膜激光材料和硅光子微系统方面的专业知识，为ITF Technologies的LIDAR系统开发新的超紧凑、低成本组件。具体来说，McMaster团队将建造新的铒镱共掺杂氧化物玻璃激光器和光学放大器，这些激光器和光学放大器将在McMaster大学制造，以人眼安全的波长发射，并且具有比以前开发的更高的效率和输出功率，并探索硅光子光学调制器和系统，使ITF Technologies能够缩小其LIDAR传感器中的整个光学系统。该项目的研究和开发将在加拿大提供一个不断发展的领域的HQP培训。这种伙伴关系将导致在加拿大开发的新技术，根据其在汽车行业的应用，具有重大的经济影响和全球重要性。

Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensors will be critical elements in future fully-automated self-driving vehicles, which will provide a safer and more accessible way for us to travel. LIDAR sensors send and receive light signals to rapidly detect the distance and speed of objects around the vehicle, allowing for the vehicle to react to its environment. Currently, fiber-based lasers are used as high-performance and eye-safe light sources for LIDAR sensors, but they are relatively large and their size cannot be further reduced. In order to meet the envisioned goal of their implementation in all future vehicles, automotive LIDAR systems must be more compact, while also being low-cost and mass producible. In this project, researchers at McMaster University in partnership with ITF Technologies will develop new highly compact lasers and photonic microsystems for LIDAR sensors. The McMaster University team will build on their expertise in rare-earth-doped thin film laser materials and silicon photonic microsystems to develop new ultra-compact, low-cost components for ITF Technologies' LIDAR systems. Specifically, the McMaster team will build new erbium-ytterbium-co-doped oxide glass lasers and optical amplifiers that will be fabricated at McMaster University, emit at eye-safe wavelengths, and have higher efficiencies and output powers than those developed previously, and explore silicon photonic optical modulators and systems that will allow ITF Technologies to shrink the overall optical system in their LIDAR sensors. The research and development to be carried out in this project will provide HQP training in Canada in a growing field. This partnership will lead to new technologies developed in Canada with significant economic impact and global importance based on their application in the automotive industry.