Self-adaptive method for performance enhancement of sweep-velocity-locked lasers

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

1-1-2019

Abstract

Optical frequency-domain reflectometry and frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW)-based sensing technologies, such as LiDAR and distributed fiber sensors, fundamentally rely on the performance of frequency-swept laser sources. Specifically, frequency-sweep linearity, which determines the level of measurement distortion, is of paramount importance. Sweep-velocity-locked semiconductor lasers (SVLLs) controlled via phase-locked loops (PLLs) have been studied for many FMCW applications owing to its simplicity, low cost, and low power consumption. We demonstrate an alternative, self-adaptive laser control system that generates an optimized predistortion curve through PLL iterations. The described self-adaptive algorithm was successfully implemented in a digital circuit. The results show that the phase error of the SVLL improved by around 1 order of magnitude relative to the one without using this method, demonstrating that this self-adaptive algorithm is a viable method of linearizing the output of frequency-swept laser sources.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

Optical Engineering

Volume

58

Issue

1

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