Laser sensing tech to revolutionise 3D imaging?

With further development, the team says the system could be used to make smaller, cheaper 3D imaging systems for potential use in self driving cars, smartphones and interactive video games like Microsoft's Kinect – all without the need for big, bulky boxes of electronics or optics. Created by a team from the University of California, Berkeley, the technology combines frequency-modulated continuous-wave Lidar with MEMS tunable vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). The system emits 'frequency-chirped' laser light (that is, whose frequency is either increasing or decreasing) on an object and then measures changes in the light frequency that is reflected back. The MEMS help to change the frequency of the laser light for the chirping, while the VCSELs are a type of inexpensive integrable semiconductor lasers with low power consumption. By using the MEMS device at its resonance—the natural frequency at which the material vibrates—the researchers were able to amplify the system's signal without a great expense of power. "Generally, increasing the signal amplitude results in increased power dissipation," said lead researcher Behnam Behroozpour. "Our solution avoids this trade-off, thereby retaining the low power advantage of VCSELs for this application." The team now plans to integrate the VCSEL, photonics and electronics into a chip-scale package. Consolidating these parts should open up possibilities for "a host of new applications that have not even been invented yet," Behroozpour says – including the ability to use your hand to silence your ringtone from 30ft away.