Patent ID: 11953722
Assignee: LUMINAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G

Claim 24:
25. A lidar system comprising:
a light source configured to emit pulses of light;
a scanner configured to scan the emitted pulses of light across a field of regard of the lidar system;
an optical receiver configured to detect incident light including a portion of one of the emitted pulses of light scattered by a target located a distance from the lidar system, the optical receiver comprising:
an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC);
a light detector element disposed on the ASIC with a top surface oriented toward the incident light, the top surface including:
a first portion configured to receive the incident light and via which the incident light reaches a first active area of the light detector element; and
a second portion configured to receive the incident light and via which the incident light reaches a second active area of the light detector element, the second portion non-overlapping with the first portion; and

a protective mask placed over the ASIC so as to (i) cover, from the incident light, at least a portion of the ASIC, and (ii) provide an aperture that defines an optical path for the incident light through the protective mask to the first and second portions of the top surface of the light detector element;

a processor configured to determine the distance to the target based on a round-trip time of the portion of the emitted pulse of light, the round-trip time corresponding to a time between when the portion of the emitted pulse of light is emitted by the light source and when the portion of the emitted pulse of light is detected by the optical receiver.