Patent ID: 11940571
Assignee: AEVA, INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 15:
16. A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) apparatus comprising:
a wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) configured to combine light from a plurality of laser sources and transmit the combined light to a target;
a first polarizing beam splitter configured to split light reflected from the target into a first output directed to a first detector and a second output directed to a second detector;
a variable polarization rotator configured to transform, between a plurality of orthogonal pairs of polarizations, a polarization state of the light reflected from the target at a rate faster than a rate of data collection at the first and second detectors; and
a processing device configured to determine at least one of a material characteristic or an orientation of the target based on a comparison of signals from the first detector and the second detector.