Enhanced long-range detection and superior sunlight interference resilience in a 1300nm band LiDAR system utilizing low-noise InGaAs-APD with AlGaAsSb multiplication layer

We developed a low-noise InGaAs-APD with AlGaAsSb in the multiplication layer and applied it to a 1300nm band ToFLiDAR system. We conducted a comparative evaluation of detection distance and resilience to sunlight interference in terms of signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) against a 900nm band system. In the experiments, we evaluated the SNR by adjusting the amount of light input to the APDs according to the propagation distance. From the experiments, the 1300nm band system achieved an SNR of over 15dB at a detection distance of over 150 meters under a light output condition of 60W with pulse conditions that meet the Class 1 of the eye-safety standard. Furthermore, the developed APD showed no degradation in SNR even at gains exceeding 100. We also evaluated the SNR degradation caused by 1-SUN sunlight using a solar simulator to the APDs and confirmed an over 7 dB advantage in degradation compared to the 900nm band system.