The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 10, 2012
Filed:
Sep. 17, 2009
Yongwoo Park, Montréal, CA;
Marco Peccianti, Verdun, CA;
José Azana, Montréal, CA;
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Quebec, CA;
Abstract
An interferometric method and system enabling light echoes-to-spectrum mapping, applicable for laser rangefinder, biomedical imaging including surface 3D mapping and tomography, vehicle position identification, and spectrum analysis. The direct mapping into spectrum allows a time-of-flight detection without using any timing pulse modulation. The sensitivity of the detection can be as high as that of the conventional low coherence interferometry, thereby an eye-safe and low-cost solution not compromising performance. In a practical implementation, high accurate range detection can be easily achievable with the level of accuracy equivalent to the laser rangefinder using a 20 ps Full-Width-at-Half-Maximum (FWHM) timing pulse. The system and method comprise applying dispersion-unbalanced interference (referred to as 'cross-chirp interference') and gating a phase matched spectral component. The dispersion unbalance used to induce linear one-to-one correspondence between the relative time delay and the spectral component, the performances in terms of range and resolution of the system and method increase with the increase in dispersion unbalance.