Lidar device

• US 10,557,924 B1
• Filed: 03/22/2019
• Issued: 02/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SOS LAB Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: SOS LAB Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Jang, Jun Hwan, Yoon, Hee Sun
• Primary Examiner(s): Alsomiri, Isam A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Askarian, Amir J
• Application Number:
  US16/362,298
• Publication Number:
  US 20200025888A1
• Time in Patent Office: 326 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/08 for measuring distance only indirect measurement G01S17/46; active triangulation systems G01S17/48
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4814 of transmitters alone
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4815 using multiple transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4817 relating to scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4861 Circuits for detection, sampling, integration or read-out
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 1/002 made of materials engineered to provide properties not available in nature, e.g. metamaterials
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2207/101 Nanooptics
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/005 based on electrowetting
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/0071 for beam steering, e.g. using a mirror outside the cavity to change the beam direction
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/04256 characterised by the configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/06243 controlling the position or direction of the emitted beam
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/183 having only vertical cavities, e.g. vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers [VCSEL]
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/18344 characterized by the mesa, e.g. dimensions or shape of the mesa
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/18394 Apertures, e.g. defined by the shape of the upper electrode
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/423 having a vertical cavity

Abstract

A lidar device comprises: a laser emitting unit for including a plurality of VCSEL elements emitting a laser beam; a metasurface for including a plurality of beam steering cells arranged in a form of two-dimensional array by a row direction and a column direction, wherein the plurality of beam steering cells guide the laser beam by using nanopillars; wherein the nanopillars included in the plurality of beam steering cells form a subwavelength pattern, wherein the increase of an attribute related to at least one of the width, height, and number per unit length of the nanopillars is repetitive along the direction from the center of the metasurface to the position of the row corresponding to the plurality of beam steering cells.

Claims

1. A lidar device for measuring a first distance to an obstacle within a field of view having a vertical direction and a horizontal direction and being formed by a plurality of scanning points, the device comprising:

a laser emitting unit including a plurality of VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) elements arranged in a form of array and emitting a laser beam;

a metasurface including a plurality of beam steering cells arranged in a form of two-dimensional array having a row direction corresponding to the vertical direction and a column direction corresponding to the horizontal direction, wherein the plurality of the beam steering cells guide the laser beam to the plurality of the scanning points by using nanopillars disposed on an emission surface side of the laser emitting unit;

wherein the nanopillars form a subwavelength pattern in the plurality of the beam steering cells,

wherein the subwavelength pattern of a specific beam steering cell among the plurality of the beam steering cells includes;

an increment of a first attribute being repeated along a first direction from a center of the metasurface to a row of the specific beam steering cell and a first change rate of the first attribute being increased according to a second distance from the row of the specific beam steering cell to the center of the metasurface, an increment of a second attribute being repeated along a second direction from the center of the metasurface to a column of the specific beam steering cell and a second change rate of the second attribute being related to a third distance from the column of the specific beam steering cell to the center of the metasurface, and

wherein the first attribute is related to at least one of a first width, a first height, and a first number per unit length of the nanopillars, and the second attribute is related to at least one of a second width, a second height, and a second number per unit length of the nanopillars.

2. The lidar device of claim 1, wherein a steering direction of the specific beam steering cell has a vertical component in a range of −

M°

to M° and

a horizontal component in a range of −

N°

to N°

, wherein N is greater than M.

3. The lidar device of claim 1, wherein:

a first size of a first component corresponding to the vertical direction of a first steering direction of the plurality of beam steering cells corresponds to a first location in the row direction of the specific beam steering cell; and

a second size of a second component corresponding to the horizontal direction of a second steering direction of the plurality of beam steering cells corresponds to a second location in the column direction of the specific beam steering cell.

4. The lidar device of claim 1, wherein a first location of each of the plurality of scanning points included in the field of view is related to a second location of the specific beam steering cell.

5. The lidar device of claim 4, wherein:

a vertical location of each of the plurality of scanning points corresponds to a row-direction location of the specific beam steering cell; and

a horizontal location of each of the plurality of scanning points corresponds to a column-direction location of the specific beam steering cell.

6. The lidar device of claim 1, wherein the nanopillars have a cylindrical or polygonal column shape.

7. A lidar device for measuring a distance to an obstacle within a field of view having a vertical direction and a horizontal direction and being formed by a plurality of scanning points, the device comprising:

a laser emitting unit including a plurality of VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) elements arranged in a form of array and emitting a laser beam;

a metasurface including a plurality of beam steering cells guiding the laser beam to the plurality of the scanning points by using nanopillars disposed on an emission surface side of the laser emitting unit;

wherein the nanopillars form a subwavelength pattern in the plurality of the beam steering cells,

wherein the subwavelength pattern of a specific beam steering cell among the plurality of the beam steering cells includes;

a first increment of a first attribute being repeated along a first component of a first steering direction in which the specific beam steering cell guides the laser beam and a first change rate of the first attribute being increased according to a first magnitude of the first component,

a second increment of a second attribute being repeated along a second component of a second steering direction in which the specific beam steering cell guides the laser beam and a second change rate of the second attribute being increased according to a second magnitude of the second component, and

wherein the first component corresponds to the vertical direction of the field of view and the second component corresponds to the horizontal direction of the field of view.

8. The lidar device of claim 7, wherein the first and second steering directions of the specific beam steering cell has a vertical component in a range of −

M°

to M° and

a horizontal component in a range of −

N0 to N0, wherein N is greater than M.

9. The lidar device of claim 7, wherein:

the plurality of beam steering cells are arranged in a two-dimensional array in a row direction corresponding to the vertical direction and a column direction corresponding to the horizontal direction;

a first size of the first component corresponding to the vertical direction of the first steering direction of the plurality of beam steering cells corresponds to a first location in the row direction of the specific beam steering cell; and

a second size of the second component corresponding to the horizontal direction of the second steering direction of the plurality of beam steering cells corresponds to a second location in the column direction of the specific beam steering cell.

10. A lidar device for measuring a distance to an obstacle within a field of view having a vertical direction and a horizontal direction and being formed by a plurality of scanning points, the device comprising:

a laser emitting unit including a plurality of VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) elements arranged in a form of array and emitting a laser beam;

a metasurface including a plurality of beam steering cells arranged in a form of two-dimensional array having a row direction corresponding to the vertical direction and a column direction corresponding to the horizontal direction, wherein the plurality of the beam steering cells guide the laser beam to the plurality of the scanning points by using nanopillars disposed on an emission surface side of the laser emitting unit;

wherein the plurality of the beam steering cells include a first cell, a second cell being located at a same row and on a right side of the first cell, and a third cell being located at a same column and on a lower side of the first cell,

wherein the nanopillars included in each of the first, the second and the third cells form a plurality of subwavelength patterns in each of the first, the second and the third cells,

wherein the plurality of subwavelength patterns in each of the first, the second and the third cells includes;

a first increment of a first attribute being repeated along a first direction from a center of the metasurface to a row of each of the first, the second and the third cells, respectively, and

a second increment of a second attribute being repeated along a second direction from a center of the metasurface to a column of each of the first, the second and the third cells, respectively,

and wherein the first attribute is related to at least one of a width, a height, and a number per unit length of the nanopillars and the second attribute is related to at least one of a width, a height, and a number per unit length of the nanopillars,

in case that the first to the third cells are located on a upper left quadrant side among a quadrant of the metasurface,

a first change rate of the second attribute of a first subwavelength pattern of the plurality of subwavelength patterns in the first cell is greater than a second change rate of the second attribute of a second subwavelength pattern of the plurality of subwavelength patterns in the second cell and

a third change rate of the first attribute of the first subwavelength pattern in the first cell is greater than a fourth change rate of the first attribute of a third subwavelength pattern of the plurality of subwavelength patterns in the third cell.