Photonic-crystal microresonator-based LiDAR engine

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Nishimoto, Kenji, Ulanov, Alexander E., Wildi, Thibault, Herr, Tobias
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Nishimoto, Kenji
Ulanov, Alexander E.
Wildi, Thibault
Herr, Tobias
author_facet Nishimoto, Kenji
Ulanov, Alexander E.
Wildi, Thibault
Herr, Tobias
contents Self-injection-locked (SIL) narrow-linewidth lasers based on high-Q microresonators are promising sources for frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) LiDAR, but the SIL mechanism as well as its key characteristics such as the frequency sweep range and the noise performance are often determined by uncontrolled backscattering in the resonator. Here, we investigate a tunable SIL laser based on a corrugated photonic-crystal (PhC) microresonator in which the feedback strength is set by design. Numerical and experimental results show that stronger SIL feedback expands the sweep range accessible through resonator modulation while also impacting the phase-noise and linewidth during sweeping, revealing a trade-off between frequency tunability and noise performance. Using CMOS-compatible microheater tuning (sub-1 V driving voltage), we demonstrate linearized up- and down-chirps with 224 THz/s over approximately 3 GHz and, in a proof-of-concept ranging experiment, measure a 10 m fiber length with a standard deviation below 3 mm. These results establish PhC microresonators with engineered SIL feedback as robust, compact, CMOS-compatible LiDAR engines.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_05069
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Photonic-crystal microresonator-based LiDAR engine
Nishimoto, Kenji
Ulanov, Alexander E.
Wildi, Thibault
Herr, Tobias
Optics
Self-injection-locked (SIL) narrow-linewidth lasers based on high-Q microresonators are promising sources for frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) LiDAR, but the SIL mechanism as well as its key characteristics such as the frequency sweep range and the noise performance are often determined by uncontrolled backscattering in the resonator. Here, we investigate a tunable SIL laser based on a corrugated photonic-crystal (PhC) microresonator in which the feedback strength is set by design. Numerical and experimental results show that stronger SIL feedback expands the sweep range accessible through resonator modulation while also impacting the phase-noise and linewidth during sweeping, revealing a trade-off between frequency tunability and noise performance. Using CMOS-compatible microheater tuning (sub-1 V driving voltage), we demonstrate linearized up- and down-chirps with 224 THz/s over approximately 3 GHz and, in a proof-of-concept ranging experiment, measure a 10 m fiber length with a standard deviation below 3 mm. These results establish PhC microresonators with engineered SIL feedback as robust, compact, CMOS-compatible LiDAR engines.
title Photonic-crystal microresonator-based LiDAR engine
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.05069