Patent ID: 11867899
Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system, comprising:
an optical system configured to:
receive optical pulses reflected from an environment and comprising a first set of angles; and
compress the first set of angles into a second set of angles that are below a threshold angle;

a first polarizer arranged at an output of the optical system, the first polarizer configured to receive the optical pulses comprising the second set of angles and output polarized optical pulses;
a polarization modulator arranged at an output of the first polarizer and comprising a birefringent material that has at least a first order electro-optic effect, the polarization modulator configured to receive the polarized optical pulses and modify a polarization state of each of the polarized optical pulses, wherein the threshold angle is set to an angle at or below a maximum angle that can propagate through the birefringent material without producing an interference pattern in images of the environment;
a second polarizer arranged at an output of the polarization modulator, the second polarizer configured to receive the polarized optical pulses with the modified polarization states and output intensity modulated optical pulses; and
one or more image sensors configured to generate images of the environment based on the intensity modulated optical pulses.