High-speed photon-counting laser ranging for broad range of distances

We demonstrate a high-speed photon-counting laser ranging system with laser pulses of multiple repetition rates to extend the unambiguous range. In the experiment, the laser pulses of three different repetition rates around 10 MHz were employed to enlarge the maximum unambiguous range from 15 m to 165 km. Moreover, the range of distances was increased as well, enabling the measurement on different targets of large separation distance with high depth resolution. An outdoor photon-counting laser ranging up to 21 km was realized with high repetition rate, which is beneficial for the airborne and satellite-based topographic mapping.