CN221126534U

CN221126534U - Optical module, light emitting device, laser radar and structured light device

Info

Publication number: CN221126534U
Application number: CN202323195203.4U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 郝磊; 罗群
Original assignee: Jiaxing Weirui Optics Co ltd
Current assignee: Jiaxing Weirui Optics Co ltd
Priority date: 2023-11-27
Filing date: 2023-11-27
Publication date: 2024-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 2033-11-27

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an optical assembly characterized by comprising: a light source comprising one or more lasers, each configured to emit a laser beam; the collimating element is arranged at the downstream of the light path of the light source, comprises at least one collimating unit, and each collimating unit corresponds to one of the lasers and is configured to shape the laser beam emitted by the corresponding laser; the deflection element is arranged at the downstream of the light path of the collimating element, and comprises at least one deflection unit, wherein each deflection unit corresponds to one of the collimating units and is configured to deflect the light shaped by the collimating unit corresponding to the deflection unit; and a beam expanding element disposed downstream of the optical path of the deflecting element, including at least one beam expanding unit, each beam expanding unit corresponding to one of the deflecting units and configured to expand the light deflected by the deflecting unit corresponding thereto. The optical component disclosed by the invention can realize specific light spot patterns by driving different lasers to emit light, and is beneficial to improving the reliability and the accuracy of a detection result of the laser radar without a mechanical scanning mechanism when being applied to the laser radar, and reducing the size of the laser radar.

Description

Optical module, light emitting device, laser radar and structured light device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of optical technology, and more particularly, to an optical assembly, a light emitting device, a laser radar, and a structured light device.

Background

With the development of technology, optical sensing technology is developed gradually, and information such as kinematics and three-dimensional structure in the environment can be obtained by emitting light beams in specific forms and receiving reflected light. Such as lidar, structured light, etc., are becoming increasingly sophisticated. In a corresponding scheme, a specific form of light beam needs to be projected into the environment, and the reflected light is received for further processing to obtain surrounding object information. The projected light beam forms are varied, with a particular combined linear array being one of the most important.

The laser radar is a sensing device which has a popular trend in fields such as automatic driving, sweeping robots, space sensing, etc. The main structure of the traditional laser radar mainly comprises an infrared laser light source and a mechanical scanning mechanism, so that the aim of covering all fields of view by optical signals is fulfilled. In practical applications, failure of the mechanical structure can seriously affect the accuracy and reliability of the device.

Therefore, an optical module is needed that can project various light beams, and can be applied to a laser radar to improve the drawbacks of a mechanically scanned laser radar.

The matters in the background section are only those known to the inventors and do not, of course, represent prior art in the field.

Disclosure of utility model

In view of one or more of the problems with the prior art, the present disclosure provides an optical assembly comprising:

a light source comprising one or more lasers, each configured to emit a laser beam;

The collimating element is arranged at the downstream of the light path of the light source, and comprises at least one collimating unit, and each collimating unit corresponds to one of the lasers and is configured to shape the laser beam emitted by the corresponding laser;

A deflecting element disposed downstream of the optical path of the collimating element, including at least one deflecting unit, each deflecting unit corresponding to one of the collimating units and configured to deflect light shaped by the collimating unit corresponding thereto; and

And the beam expanding element is arranged at the downstream of the light path of the deflection element and comprises at least one beam expanding unit, and each beam expanding unit corresponds to one of the deflection units and is configured to expand the light deflected by the deflection unit corresponding to the beam expanding unit.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, the collimating element and the deflecting element are integrated, the collimating element comprising a plurality of collimating units and the deflecting element comprising a plurality of deflecting units, the plurality of collimating units and the plurality of deflecting units being disposed on opposite surfaces of the body, respectively.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, wherein the plurality of lasers are arranged as a one-dimensional laser array or a two-dimensional laser array, the laser array comprising a plurality of segments, the lasers of each segment being individually addressable and individually addressable.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, wherein the facet shape of the collimating unit is related to the type and/or collimation direction of its corresponding laser, the facet shape of the collimating unit comprises one or more of a cylindrical surface, a bracelet surface and an aspherical surface.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, the collimating unit is configured to collimate the laser beam emitted by the laser corresponding thereto in a fast axis and/or slow axis direction.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, wherein the laser comprises: one or more of an edge-emitting laser, a vertical cavity surface-emitting laser, a horizontal cavity surface-emitting laser, and a photonic crystal laser.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, wherein the deflection unit comprises a prism or a wedge mirror.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, the laser beam emitted by each laser forms a stripe-shaped light spot with a field of view of 30-160 degrees through the beam expanding unit.

The present disclosure also provides a light emitting device comprising an optical assembly as described above.

The present disclosure also provides a lidar comprising:

a light emitting device as described above configured to emit a detection light beam for detecting an object;

a receiving device configured to receive an echo beam reflected by the object upon incidence of the probe beam, and to convert the echo beam into an electrical signal; and

And a processing device coupled to the receiving device and configured to obtain information of the object based on the electrical signal.

The present disclosure also provides a structured light apparatus comprising:

A light emitting device as described above configured to project a structured light pattern on an object to be measured;

The image acquisition device is configured to acquire an image formed by projecting the structured light pattern on the object to be detected; and

And the processing device is respectively coupled with the light emitting device and the image acquisition device and is configured to acquire information of the object to be detected based on the structured light pattern and the image.

In summary, the optical assembly, the light emitting device, the structured light device and the laser radar disclosed by the disclosure are described in detail, the laser beam emitted by the laser in the light source has a certain divergence angle, after being collimated by the collimating element, the parallelism of the beam is greatly improved, after being deflected by the deflecting element, the propagation direction of the beam is changed, then the beam is incident to the beam expanding element, the beam is modulated into a one-dimensional expanded beam, the laser beam emitted by a single laser can be expanded to form a strip-shaped light spot with a field of view of 30-160 degrees, and the specific light spot pattern can be realized by driving different lasers to emit light, so that the flexibility is high, and the personalized requirement can be met.

The optical component can be applied to a light emitting device, a structural light device, a laser radar, face recognition, three-dimensional modeling, machine vision and other scenes, and has a wide application range.

The laser radar emits light through the flexible driving laser, detection within a certain view field range can be realized, a mechanical scanning mechanism is not needed, mechanical structure faults are reduced or even avoided, the optical stability of the laser radar is more excellent, the reliability and the accuracy of detection results of the laser radar are improved, and the size of the laser radar is reduced.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the disclosure, without limitation to the disclosure. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an optical assembly according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of an optical assembly according to further embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3a illustrates a side view of an integration of a collimating element and a deflecting element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3b illustrates a three-dimensional schematic of an integration of a collimating element and a deflecting element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of an arrangement of lasers according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of a laser beam emitted by a laser according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 6 a-6 c illustrate schematic diagrams of collimation units according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic arrangement of a deflection unit according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic optical path diagram of a deflection unit according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9a illustrates a side view of a beam expanding element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9b illustrates a three-dimensional schematic of a beam expanding element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9c illustrates a schematic diagram of a beam expanding unit according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

10 a-10 c illustrate a pattern style formed on a planar receiving unit according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates a schematic diagram of a light emitting device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates a schematic diagram of a lidar according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

Fig. 13 illustrates a schematic diagram of a structured light apparatus according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, only certain exemplary embodiments are briefly described. As will be recognized by those of skill in the pertinent art, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings are merely for convenience in describing the present disclosure and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a specific orientation, be configured and operated in a specific orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like, are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the described features. In the description of the present disclosure, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more, unless explicitly defined otherwise.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be noted that, unless explicitly specified and limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected, mechanically connected, electrically connected, or communicable with each other; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and can be communicated with the inside of two elements or the interaction relationship of the two elements. The specific meaning of the terms in this disclosure will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as the case may be.

In this disclosure, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, a first feature being "above" or "below" a second feature may include both the first and second features being in direct contact, as well as the first and second features not being in direct contact but being in contact with each other by way of additional features therebetween. Moreover, a first feature being "above," "over" and "on" a second feature includes the first feature being directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is higher in level than the second feature. The first feature being "under", "below" and "beneath" the second feature includes the first feature being directly under and obliquely below the second feature, or simply means that the first feature is less level than the second feature.

The following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different structures of the disclosure. In order to simplify the present disclosure, components and arrangements of specific examples are described below. Of course, they are merely examples and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Furthermore, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples, which are for the purpose of brevity and clarity, and which do not themselves indicate the relationship between the various embodiments and/or arrangements discussed. In addition, the present disclosure provides examples of various specific processes and materials, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize applications of other processes and/or use of other materials.

The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it being understood that the preferred embodiments described herein are for purposes of illustration and explanation only and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

The present disclosure provides an optical assembly comprising a light source, a collimating element, a deflecting element, and a beam expanding element, wherein the light source comprises one or more lasers, each configured to emit a laser beam; the collimating element is arranged at the downstream of the light path of the light source, and comprises at least one collimating unit, wherein each collimating unit corresponds to one of the lasers and is configured to shape the laser beam emitted by the corresponding laser; the deflection element is arranged at the downstream of the light path of the collimating element and comprises at least one deflection unit, and each deflection unit corresponds to one of the collimating units and is configured to deflect the light shaped by the collimating unit corresponding to the deflection unit; the beam expanding element is arranged at the downstream of the light path of the deflection element, and comprises at least one beam expanding unit, wherein each beam expanding unit corresponds to one deflection unit and is configured to expand the light deflected by the corresponding deflection unit. The optical assembly of the present disclosure is described in detail below.

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an optical assembly 100 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 1, the optical assembly 100 includes a light source 10, a collimating element 20, a deflecting element 30, and a beam expanding element 40.

The light source 10 may comprise one or more lasers, for example N lasers, laser 101 ₁, lasers 101 ₂, … …, lasers 101 _N, each configured to emit a laser beam L1.

The collimating element 20 is arranged downstream of the light path of the light source 10 and comprises at least one collimating unit, for example N collimating units, collimating unit 201 ₁, collimating units 201 ₂, … …, collimating unit 201 _N, each corresponding to one of the lasers and configured to shape the laser beam L1 emitted by the corresponding laser. For example, the collimating unit 201 ₁ corresponds to the laser 101 ₁, the collimating unit 201 ₁ is configured to shape the laser beam emitted by the laser 101 ₁, the collimating unit 201 ₂ corresponds to the laser 101 ₂, the collimating unit 201 ₂ is configured to shape the laser beam emitted by the laser 101 ₂, and so on.

The deflecting element 30 is disposed downstream of the optical path of the collimating element 20, and includes at least one deflecting unit, such as N deflecting units, the deflecting unit 301 ₁, the deflecting units 301 ₂, … …, and the deflecting unit 301 _N, each of which corresponds to one of the collimating units and is configured to deflect the light L2 shaped by the collimating unit corresponding thereto. For example, the deflecting unit 301 ₁ corresponds to the collimating unit 201 ₁, the deflecting unit 301 ₁ is configured to deflect the light shaped by the collimating unit 201 ₁, the deflecting unit 301 ₂ corresponds to the collimating unit 201 ₂, the deflecting unit 301 ₂ is configured to deflect the light shaped by the collimating unit 201 ₂, and so on.

The beam expanding element 40 is disposed downstream of the optical path of the deflecting element 30, and includes at least one beam expanding unit, such as N beam expanding units, a beam expanding unit 401 ₁, beam expanding units 401 ₂, … …, and beam expanding units 401 _N, each of which corresponds to one of the deflecting units and is configured to expand the light L3 deflected by the deflecting unit corresponding thereto. For example, the beam expanding unit 401 ₁ corresponds to the deflecting unit 301 ₁, the beam expanding unit 401 ₁ is configured to expand the light deflected by the deflecting unit 301 ₁, for example, the beam expanding unit 401 ₂ corresponds to the deflecting unit 301 ₂, the beam expanding unit 401 ₂ is configured to expand the light deflected by the deflecting unit 301 ₂, and so on.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 1, the collimating element 20 and the deflecting element 30 may be separate two elements, each to achieve collimation and deflection of the light beam.

In other embodiments, as shown in FIG. 2, the collimating element 20 and the deflecting element 30 may be integrated, while achieving collimation and deflection of the light beam. Fig. 3a and 3b show a side view and a three-dimensional schematic view, respectively, of the integration of the collimating element 20 and the deflecting element 30. As shown in fig. 2-3 b, the collimating element 20 includes a plurality of collimating units 201, the deflecting element 30 includes a plurality of deflecting units 301, and the plurality of collimating units 201 and the plurality of deflecting units 301 are respectively disposed on opposite surfaces of the body (i.e., the whole of the collimating element 20 and the deflecting element 30 is integrated), for example, the plurality of collimating units 201 are disposed on the surface of the body on the side close to the light source 10, and the plurality of deflecting units 301 are disposed on the surface of the body on the side far from the light source 10, which is beneficial to improving the integration level of the whole optical assembly and reducing the size of the whole optical assembly.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 1-3 b, the collimating unit 201 in the collimating element 20 may be integrated, the deflecting unit 301 in the deflecting element 30 may be integrated, and the beam expanding unit 401 in the beam expanding element 40 may be integrated, which is beneficial for further improving the integration level of the whole optical assembly and further reducing the size of the whole optical assembly.

In some embodiments, the plurality of lasers may be regularly arranged. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, a plurality of lasers 101 may be arranged in a one-dimensional laser array. As shown in fig. 4, the plurality of lasers 101 may also be arranged in a two-dimensional laser array. It should be noted that the present disclosure is not limited with respect to a specific number of lasers in the laser array. In addition, the multiple lasers may be arranged irregularly (not shown), depending on the actual requirements.

In some embodiments, the laser array includes a plurality of partitions, each of which has a laser that is individually addressable and gated. In other words, the lasers of each zone may be controlled as a whole. Taking a two-dimensional laser array as exemplified in fig. 4, the laser array includes, for example, 4 partitions A1-A4, each including 4 lasers 101, the 4 lasers 101 of each partition can be controlled to be lit up as a whole. It should be noted that the embodiment of fig. 4 is described only by taking a two-dimensional laser array as an example, and the situation of the one-dimensional laser array is similar to that of the one-dimensional laser array and will not be described herein.

The present disclosure is not limited with respect to the manner in which the laser array is partitioned. In some embodiments, the laser array may be uniformly partitioned, with the number of lasers per partition being the same (see fig. 4), in which case the number of partitions in the laser array and the number of lasers included in each partition are inversely related. In other embodiments, the laser array may be non-uniformly segmented, with the number of lasers per segment being different (not shown). In the present disclosure, the lasers of each partition may be physically distributed, for example, a plurality of lasers in a row (not shown), a column (refer to fig. 4), adjacent one another (not shown), and adjacent one another (not shown), or may be logically distributed (not shown). Each zone includes at least one laser. The size, the position and the distance of each laser in the light source can be flexibly adjusted, so that the power density and the conversion efficiency can be flexibly adjusted.

Further, each laser of each zone may be independently gated and addressed. In other words, each laser of each zone may be individually controlled to light. Referring to fig. 4, for example, each laser in zone A4 may be individually controlled to light.

The disclosure is also not limited as to the type of laser, and optionally, the laser may include one or more of an edge-emitting laser (EEL), a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), a horizontal-cavity surface-emitting laser (Horizontal cavity surface-EMITTING LASER, HCSEL), and a photonic crystal laser (Photonic Crystal Surface EMITTING LASER, PCSEL). The type of laser for each zone may be the same or may be different.

The laser beam emitted by the laser has a certain divergence angle, and after being emitted from the resonant cavity (the emission direction refers to the X-axis direction in fig. 5), the laser beam can be diffused to surrounding areas to different degrees, so that the effective utilization of energy is affected. The laser beams differ in the degree of divergence in the fast axis direction (refer to the Z-axis direction in fig. 5) and in the slow axis direction (refer to the Y-axis direction in fig. 5), and have a large divergence angle in the fast axis direction and a small divergence angle in the slow axis direction. In the present disclosure, the light path downstream of each laser is correspondingly provided with a collimation unit, each collimation unit can collimate (shape) the laser beam emitted by its corresponding laser in the fast axis and/or slow axis direction, and after exiting through the collimation unit, a beam with better parallelism can be formed, so that the energy loss of the laser beam can be reduced, and the energy utilization rate can be improved.

In some embodiments, the facet shape of the collimating unit is related to the type and/or direction of collimation of its corresponding laser, including one or more of cylindrical, bracelet, and aspherical surfaces.

Fig. 6a shows a schematic view of a cylindrical type collimating unit 201 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, fig. 6b shows a schematic view of a bracelet type collimating unit 201 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, fig. 6c shows a schematic view of an aspherical type collimating unit 201 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, different types of collimating units being suitable for different application scenarios.

In some embodiments, for example, where it is desired to shape the laser beam emitted by the laser in one collimation direction (e.g., the fast axis or the slow axis), a cylindrical collimation unit 201 may be preferred, see fig. 6a.

In some embodiments, for example where it is desired to shape the laser beam emitted by the laser in two alignment directions (e.g. fast axis and slow axis), a bracelet-type alignment unit 201 may be preferred, see fig. 6b.

In some embodiments, if the symmetry of the far field spot of the laser beam emitted by the laser is better, an aspherical collimation unit 201 may be preferentially selected, see fig. 6c.

In some embodiments, for example where shaping of the laser beam emitted by the edge-emitting laser (EEL) is desired, a cylindrical collimating unit 201 may be preferred, see fig. 6a.

In some embodiments, for example where shaping of the laser beam emitted by the horizontal cavity surface emitting laser (HHCSEL) is required, a bracelet-type collimating unit 201 may be preferred, see fig. 6b.

In some embodiments, for example where shaping of the laser beam emitted by a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) is desired, an aspherical collimating unit 201 may be preferred, see fig. 6c.

The above embodiments exemplify applicable scenarios of some collimating units, and do not limit the disclosure, and in fact, each collimating unit can implement shaping of the laser beam in different directions to some extent. In practical application, a proper collimation unit can be selected according to comprehensive judgment of one or more indexes of the type, the collimation direction and the target light spot of the laser. Each collimating unit may include one or more collimating lenses, and the surface types of the respective collimating lenses may be the same or different, depending on the actual situation.

In some embodiments, the plurality of collimating units 201 may be regularly arranged, for example, as a one-dimensional collimating unit array (refer to fig. 1 and 2), or may be arranged as a two-dimensional collimating unit array (not shown). In other embodiments, the plurality of collimating units may be arranged irregularly (not shown). It can be understood that the collimating units are arranged regularly or irregularly, and each collimating unit is only required to be arranged corresponding to the laser.

In some embodiments, the plurality of deflection units 301 may be regularly arranged, for example, as a one-dimensional deflection unit array (refer to fig. 1, 2), or may be arranged as a two-dimensional deflection unit array (refer to fig. 7). In other embodiments, the plurality of deflection units may be arranged irregularly (not shown). It is understood that the deflection units are arranged regularly or irregularly, and each deflection unit is only required to be arranged corresponding to the collimation unit.

Referring to fig. 1, 2 and 8, each deflection unit 301 is configured to deflect the light L2 shaped by the corresponding collimating unit in the Y-axis direction in the figure, that is, deflect the light L3 deflected in the direction inward or outward perpendicular to the paper surface, and the deflected light L3 can be dispersed in the Y-axis direction in the figure, which is beneficial to reducing crosstalk between the light beams and improving signal to noise ratio. The deflection unit comprises a prism or a wedge mirror.

Referring to fig. 8, the inclination angle θ and the deflection angle α of the deflection unit 301 satisfy the law of refraction, that is, the following expression:

n_re sinθ＝n_air sin(θ+α)

Where n _re is the refractive index of the optical medium, n _air is the refractive index of air, θ is the inclination angle of the first surface S1 (inclined surface) of the deflection unit 301, and α is the deflection angle of the light emitted from the deflection unit 301.

The second face S2 of the deflection unit 301 is perpendicular to the substrate B.

In some embodiments, each deflection unit 301 in the deflection element 30 may be provided in different gauges to achieve different degrees of deflection effect. When the outgoing angles α of outgoing light of the deflection unit 301 are different, the inclination angle θ of the first surface S1 of the deflection unit 301 is different.

In some embodiments, the number N1 of deflection units 301 in the deflection element 30 is determined by the overall width W1 of the deflection element 30 and the width W1 of the individual deflection units 301, i.e. the following: n1=w1/W1.

In some embodiments, the height h1 and width w1 of the single deflection unit 301 satisfy: h1 =w1×tan (θ).

In some embodiments, in order to compress the longitudinal depth (height h 1) of the deflection unit 301, a larger number N1 of deflection units may be provided.

In some embodiments, the number N1 of the smaller deflection units 301 may be set such that the heights of the respective deflection units 301 are comparable. The setting of the individual parameters in the deflection element 30 may be based on practical circumstances taking into account one or more parameters of size, refractive index, deflection angle, tilt angle, number of deflection units in total.

In some embodiments, the surface orientation of the deflection unit may be calculated using the law of refraction in vector form as follows:

Where n _re is the refractive index of the optical medium, n _air is the refractive index of air, Is the unit vector of the direction of the incident light of the deflection unit,/>Is the unit vector of the direction of the refracted light of the deflection unit,/>A normal unit vector directed from medium 1 (optical medium) to medium 2 (air) for the medium interface.

In some embodiments, the plurality of beam expanding units 401 may be regularly arranged, for example, arranged as a one-dimensional beam expanding unit array (refer to fig. 1 and 2), or may be arranged as a two-dimensional beam expanding unit array (refer to fig. 9a and 9 b). In other embodiments, the plurality of beam expanding units may be arranged irregularly (not shown). It can be understood that the beam expanding units are arranged regularly or irregularly, and each beam expanding unit is only required to be arranged corresponding to the deflection unit. It will be appreciated that the beam expansion direction is perpendicular to the deflection direction.

Referring to fig. 1, 2 and 9c, each beam expanding unit 401 is configured to expand the beam L3 shaped by the corresponding deflection unit in the Z-axis direction in the figure, and the beam L4 after the beam expansion can be expanded in the XOZ plane (Z-axis direction) to form a stripe-shaped light spot within a certain angle range. In some embodiments, the laser beam L1 emitted by each laser may form a stripe-shaped light spot with a field of view of 30-160 degrees after being modulated by the beam expanding unit.

The light shaped by the deflecting element 30 is incident on the beam expanding element 40. In order to achieve a better optical effect, referring to fig. 9a to 9c, each beam expanding unit 401 includes an array of beam expanding micro units 4011, where the beam expanding micro units 4011 include one or more of cylindrical mirrors, bracelet mirrors and aspherical mirrors, and the array of beam expanding micro units 4011 of each beam expanding unit 401 is configured to expand the beam shaped by the corresponding deflection unit in the Z-axis direction while collimating the beam in the X-axis direction.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 8-9 c, according to practical requirements, the beam expanding unit 401 may be disposed at a certain angle with the deflection unit 301, so that the light L3 emitted from the deflection unit 301 may be perpendicularly incident on the first surface S3 of the beam expanding unit 401, so that the first surface S3 and the second surface S4 of the beam expanding element 401 have the same inclination angle θ, which is beneficial to reducing the formation of stray light and further improving the signal-to-noise ratio. It is understood that the first surface S3 of the beam expanding unit 401 refers to a curved surface (left side in the drawing) formed by the array of beam expanding micro units 4011.

In some embodiments, the number N2 of beam expanding units 401 in the beam expanding element 40 is determined by the overall width W2 of the beam expanding element 40 and the width W2 of the individual beam expanding units 401, i.e. the following: n2=w2/W2.

In some embodiments, the height h2 and width w2 of a single beam expanding unit 401 satisfy: h2 =w2×tan (α).

In some embodiments, the number N3 of beam expanding micro units 4011 on each beam expanding unit 401 is determined by the overall width w2 of the beam expanding unit 401 and the width w3 of the individual beam expanding micro units 4011, i.e. the following: n3=w2/w 3.

In some embodiments, the height h3 and width w3 of the individual expanded beam micro-unit 4011 satisfy: h3 =w3×tan (α).

In some embodiments, in order to compress the longitudinal depth (height h 2) of the beam expanding unit 401, a larger number N2 of beam expanding units 401 may be provided. Similarly, in order to compress the longitudinal depth (height h 3) of the beam expanding micro units 4011, the number N3 of the larger beam expanding micro units 4011 may be set.

In some embodiments, the number N2 of smaller beam expanding units 401 may be set such that the heights of the respective beam expanding units 401 are comparable. Similarly, the number N3 of the smaller beam expanding micro units 4011 may be set so that the heights of the respective beam expanding micro units 4011 are equivalent. For convenience of processing, the specifications of the beam expanding micro units 4011 are the same.

The setting of the parameters in the beam expanding element 40 may be based on a combination of one or more parameters of size, refractive index, deflection angle, tilt angle, number of beam expanding units, number of beam expanding micro units and target spot.

The optical assembly of the present disclosure may be used with a planar receiving unit including a wall, a curtain, and the like. By driving the lasers in each partition in the light source to emit light, and sequentially emitting the light through the collimating element, the deflecting element and the beam expanding element, a pattern with a specific effect can be formed on the plane receiving unit. As shown in fig. 1, 2 and 10a, a stripe-shaped spot may be formed on the planar receiving unit 200. As shown in fig. 10b, an "X" type spot may be formed on the planar receiving unit 200, and as shown in fig. 10c, a "+" type spot may be formed on the planar receiving unit 200, etc. In practical application, the laser in the light source can be flexibly driven according to the requirement to form a target light spot.

In some embodiments, the optical assemblies of the present disclosure may be used in structured light optical systems as spot projecting end devices.

The present disclosure also relates to a light emitting device, fig. 11 shows a schematic view of a light emitting device 500 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 11, the light emitting device 500 comprising an optical assembly 100/300 as described above.

The present disclosure also relates to a lidar, fig. 12 shows a schematic view of a lidar 600 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 12, the lidar 600 comprising a light-emitting device 500 as described above, the light-emitting device 500 being configured to emit a detection light beam L for detecting an object OB.

Lidar 600 also includes a receiving device 630 and a processing device 660, with receiving device 630 and processing device 660 coupled. The receiving device 630 is configured to receive the probe light beam L 'emitted from the light emitting device 500, reflected echo light beam L' incident on the object OB, and convert it into an electrical signal. The processing means 660 is configured to obtain object information based on said electrical signals.

The laser radar disclosed by the invention emits laser beams through the driving laser, the laser beams are modulated by the collimation element, the deflection element and the beam expansion element in sequence, then strip-shaped light spots with gradually changed light angles can be formed, the space positions of the strip-shaped light spots are also different, and the linear array scanning laser radar without moving parts can be realized, so that the probability of occurrence of faults of mechanical structures such as moving parts can be reduced, the reliability of the laser radar is improved, the accuracy of the detection result of the laser radar is improved, the volume of the laser radar is reduced, and the cost is reduced.

The present disclosure also relates to a structured Light device, fig. 13 shows a schematic view of a structured Light device 800 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 13, the structured Light device 800 comprising a Light emitting device 500 as described above, the Light emitting device 500 being configured to project a structured Light pattern Light (a stripe spot) on an object OB to be measured. After the structured Light pattern Light is projected on the object OB to be measured, a corresponding degree of deformation is generated based on the geometry of the surface of the object OB to be measured.

Structured light device 800 further comprises image acquisition device 840 and processing device 880, processing device 880 being coupled to light emitting device 500 and image acquisition device 840, respectively. The image capturing device 840 is configured to capture an image formed by the structured Light pattern Light projected on the object OB to be tested. The processing means 880 is configured to obtain object information to be measured based on the structured Light pattern Light and the image.

In some embodiments, the processing device 880 is configured to obtain information of the object OB to be measured based on the structured Light pattern Light, the image, the relative pose of the image capturing device 840 and the Light emitting device 500, and parameters such as internal parameters of the image capturing device 840, and reconstruct the three-dimensional structure of the object OB to be measured.

In some embodiments, image capture device 840 includes a single lens or multiple lenses.

In some embodiments, the processing device includes a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), a digital signal Processor (DIGITAL SIGNAL Processor, DSP), an Application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf Programmable gate array (Field-Programmable GATE ARRAY, FPGA) or other Programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, or the like.

In summary, the optical assembly, the light emitting device, the structured light device and the laser radar disclosed by the disclosure are described in detail, the laser beam emitted by the laser in the light source has a certain divergence angle, after being collimated by the collimating element, the parallelism of the beam is greatly improved, after being deflected by the deflecting element, the propagation direction of the beam is changed, then the beam is incident to the beam expanding element, the beam is modulated into a one-dimensional expanded beam, the laser beam emitted by a single laser can be expanded to form a strip-shaped light spot with a field of view of 30-160 degrees, and by driving different lasers to light, the specific light spot pattern can be realized, the flexibility is high, and the personalized requirements can be met.

It should be noted that the optical assembly of the present disclosure is not limited to be applied to the solid-state lidar, and may be applied to the mechanically scanned lidar in some scenarios.

Finally, it should be noted that: the foregoing description is only a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, but although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalents may be substituted for some of the technical features thereof. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure should be included in the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An optical assembly, comprising:

2. The optical assembly of claim 1, wherein the collimating element and the deflecting element are integrated, the collimating element comprising a plurality of collimating units and the deflecting element comprising a plurality of deflecting units, the plurality of collimating units and the plurality of deflecting units being disposed on opposite surfaces of the body, respectively.

3. An optical assembly according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of lasers are arranged as a one-dimensional laser array or a two-dimensional laser array, the laser array comprising a plurality of segments, the lasers of each segment being individually addressable and individually selectable.

4. An optical assembly according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the facet shape of the collimating unit is related to the type and/or direction of collimation of its corresponding laser, the facet shape of the collimating unit comprising one or more of a cylindrical surface, a bracelet surface and an aspherical surface.

5. An optical assembly according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the collimating unit is configured to collimate the laser beam emitted by its corresponding laser in the fast and/or slow axis direction.

6. The optical assembly of claim 1 or 2, wherein the laser comprises: one or more of an edge-emitting laser, a vertical cavity surface-emitting laser, a horizontal cavity surface-emitting laser, and a photonic crystal laser.

7. An optical assembly according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the deflection unit comprises a prism or a wedge mirror.

8. An optical assembly according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the laser beam emitted by each laser forms a stripe-shaped spot having a field of view of 30 to 160 degrees via the beam expanding unit.

9. A light emitting device comprising the optical assembly of any one of claims 1-8.

10. A lidar, comprising:

The light emitting device of claim 9, configured to emit a detection beam for detecting an object;

11. A structured light device, comprising:

The light emitting device of claim 9, configured to project a structured light pattern on an object to be measured;