The Bridge - Issue 1, 2023 - 12

Feature
Ultrafast Lidar Based on Signal Time Stretch and Various Transduction Techniques
5 mm are shown in Figure 3. A range resolution of 1 μm
over a detection range of 14 mm is obtained.
Moreover, we have also demonstrated material
characterization by applying the technique shown in Figure
1a. The material under test is put between the collimator
and the mirror, and the interferograms are analyzed by
time-stretching them via a 120 km DCF. This experiment
was done with two different materials (100% methanol,
100% isovaleric acid, and 50% methanol/water solution).
The result of this experiment is shown in Figure 4. Graphs
on the left demonstrate the difference between isovaleric
acid and an empty sample holder (made from glass
material), and the graphs on the right show the difference
between the interferograms of 100% methanol and a
50/50 water-methanol solution. The results demonstrate
single-pulse, high-resolution absorptions in time and
frequency space. Spectral data demonstrates multi-species
detection in a 50:50 ratio of methanol/water mixture.
IV. Summary
Ultrafast time-stretch Lidar is a novel and powerful
technique that can be adapted for various applications,
from autonomous vehicles to spectroscopy, imaging, and
sensing. Various transduction techniques exist to acquire
and process a large amount of data which is a byproduct
of continuous monitoring. The technique is limited by
the laser pulse width, and dispersion-limited time-stretch
power loss. However, it can be used for different spectral
bands of interest in telecommunication, visible and midinfrared,
upon the availability of the dispersion element and
amplification methodology within that spectral band.
REFERENCES
[1] H. Xia and C. Zhang, " Ultrafast ranging Lidar based on real-time
Fourier transformation, " Optics Letters, Vol. 34, No. 14, pp. 21082110,
July 2009.
[2] Z. Zhang, H. Xia, S. Yu, L. Zhao, T. Wei, and M. Li, " Femtosecond
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Dr. Mina Esmaeelpour has been an
Assistant Professor in the Department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering
at Missouri University of Science and
Technology since September 2019. Dr.
Esmaeelpour holds a Ph.D. degree in
physics from Lehigh University. Before
joining Missouri S&T, she completed
postdoctoral training at both Stanford University Medical School
and Stanford University Engineering School for three years. She
has extensive experience in fiber optics and fiber sensors.
Behzad Boroomandisorkhabi is
a Ph.D. student in the Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department
at Missouri University of Science and
Technology. He joined Missouri S&T in
2019. Before joining Missouri S&T, Behzad
Boroomandisorkhabi got his Master of
Science in electrical engineering from K. N.
Toosi University of Technology in Iran. His research area is optical
fiber and biomedical sensors.
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