National Research Council of Canada

Istituto Trentino Di Cultura

Andrea Simoni

J Angelo Beraldin

Massimo Gottardi

Lorenzo Gonzo

A position and color detection sensor (for detecting a position of a light spot in a light distribution that can include stray light components, e.g. from other lasers, ambient lighting etc.) includes two discrete response position sensitive detectors (DRPSDs). The first DRPSD is used to calculate a raw estimate of the spot position and the second DRPSD is used to calculate the actual spot position based on information from the first DRPSD. Color is supported by further dividing each pixel of the first DRPSD into elementary photocells, each one covered with an appropriate optical filter. The use of two DRPSDs differing in pixel geometries makes them suitable for integration on the same chip using the same process. This reduces production and alignment costs. Further, analogue microelectronic processes can be used for color filter deposition and simple optics can be used for beam splitting and shaping.

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Trento, Italy

Andrea Simoni