Anti-interference chaotic laser ranging by using ultrafast noise-like pulses

The growing demands of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) toward various application scenarios have aroused intensive research on laser ranging technologies. Beyond coherent laser states, the chaotic counterpart with natural random modulations paves a critical way for advanced ranging schemes due to their excellent anti-interference capabilities and absence of range ambiguity. Here, we propose a ranging system based on noise-like pulses. In this system, noise-like pulses are emitted from the ultrafast fiber laser, exhibiting chaotic properties. These pulses are subsequently used as the detection signals after time stretching, which maps the spectral information onto the temporal domain. The pulses without external modulation exhibit inherent resistance to interference. Detection results are obtained by calculating the cross-correlation between the reference and the signal light. The results provide both distance information and enable the distinction between materials with varying reflectivity. Experimental demonstrations have shown that the system can achieve millimeter-level resolution and relative reflectivity detection. Furthermore, the system maintains a high signal-to-noise ratio even in the presence of external interference. This noise-like pulses-based laser ranging system provides a solution for anti-interference ranging, injecting new inspirations into the development of LiDAR technology.