Dynamic speckle effect induced by an acousto-optic deflector for fast range sensing

A technique for fast distance measurements based on continuous frequency measurements of the power modulation of spatially filtered scattered light is proposed. For what is to our knowledge the first time, it is shown that the technique works when laser beam scanning is performed with an acousto-optic deflector. The most impressive feature of the proposed technique is that it works at very high scanning speed, providing an extremely fast response time. Experimental verification of the technique is demonstrated at a scanning speed as as high as 130 m/s. The proposed method of range sensing allows the design of a distance sensor possessing a response time as fast as 80 ns. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.