Open AccessPotassium tantalate niobate (KTN) crystal-based polarization-modulated 3D ladar with a large field of view
Author(s) -
Yafei Song,
Jinhua Zhao,
Bin Wang,
Xuping Wang,
Bing Liu,
Xiaolei Lv,
Jianwei Zhang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
optics letters/optics index
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.524
H-Index - 272
eISSN - 1071-2763
pISSN - 0146-9592
DOI - 10.1364/ol.398225
Subject(s) - tantalate , optics , materials science , polarization (electrochemistry) , lithium niobate , lithium tantalate , ferroelectricity , optoelectronics , physics , dielectric , chemistry
An innovative 3D ladar that utilizes potassium tantalate niobate (KTN) crystal as a polarization modulator is proposed in this Letter. The optical isotropy of KTN in cubic phase can effectively suppress the range errors induced by the incident angles of collected beams in 3D imaging. The giant quadratic electro-optic coefficient can dramatically lower the voltage that is required to modulate the polarization so that a high voltage amplifier with less noise can be used to improve the ranging performances. By virtue of these two advantages, a range error of 4.8 cm and a range precision of 4.4 cm at 15 m have been achieved under a large field of view of 20° (about 0.35 rad) and a maximum detection range without ambiguity of 60 m.