US 12,235,438 B2
MEMS wavelength selectable switch for adaptive wavelength filtering
Yue Lu, Mountain View, CA (US); and Youmin Wang, Mountain View, CA (US)
Assigned to Beijing Voyager Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing (CN)
Filed by Beijing Voyager Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing (CN)
Filed on Nov. 11, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/095,705.
Prior Publication US 2022/0146815 A1, May 12, 2022
Int. Cl. G02B 26/00 (2006.01); G01S 7/481 (2006.01); G01S 17/08 (2006.01); G02B 19/00 (2006.01); G02B 26/08 (2006.01); G02B 26/10 (2006.01); H05B 1/02 (2006.01); H05B 3/00 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 26/007 (2013.01) [G01S 7/4816 (2013.01); G01S 7/4817 (2013.01); G01S 17/08 (2013.01); G02B 19/0052 (2013.01); G02B 26/0833 (2013.01); G02B 26/10 (2013.01); H05B 1/023 (2013.01); H05B 3/0014 (2013.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) apparatus for beam steering in a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system of an autonomous vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
a laser diode emitting a laser beam;
a laser beam wavelength detector;
a MEMS-based Wavelength Selectable Switch (WSS), controllable to provide a selected wavelength band to an output of the WSS;
a light condenser for directing reflected light from the laser diode to an input of the MEMS-based Wavelength Selectable Switch;
at least one detector for detecting the selected wavelength band from the output of the WSS; and
a controller configured to control the WSS to select the selected wavelength band based on a detected wavelength from the laser beam wavelength detector,
wherein the selected wavelength band of the WSS is 25 nanometers or less,
wherein the WSS includes a reflective MEMS mirror array, an optical circulator, a grating, a single input and a plurality of outputs, the optical circulator is connected to a fiber cable which receives reflected light from the light condenser and the optical circulator provides the reflected light to the WSS and receives back the selected wavelength band from the WSS and provides the selected wavelength band to the detector.