A new technique of optical ranging by a frequency-shifted feedback laser

Abstract

We report an application of the frequency-shifted feedback (FSF) laser to optical ranging. The FSF laser output consists of periodically generated chirped frequency components whose chirp rate is faster than 100 PHz/s (P=10/sup 15/). By taking advantage of the spectral features of the FSF laser, the conventional limits on operating range and spatial resolution are removed. In the experiment, a distance of 3.7 km was measured with a resolution of 9.4 mm.