1. Context

Long-range laser rangefinders are increasingly being required to deliver high safety, long-distance ranging, high accuracy, low power consumption and small size. Currently, lasers with 1064nm wavelength are commonly used for rangefinders, which easily cause the retinal damage and pose a safety hazard. Therefore, it’s an inevitable trend that 1535nm eye-safe lasers with compact size and high reliability will play a key role in range finding. In fact, 1535nm eye-safe lasers have been widely used in handheld rangefinders, riflescopes, payloads and border surveillance systems.

2. Introduction of Laser Ranging System

A laser rangefinder contains a laser transmitter, an optical system, a receiver and a signal processor. The schematic diagram of laser ranging system is shown below. The eye-safe laser ranging system utilizes Er:glass laser for emitting a 1535nm pulse at low repetition rate with energy of a few hundred microjoules and narrow pulse width, InGaAs APD for signal detection and TDC for flight time measurement, so as to obtain accurate distance information.

Schematic Diagram of Laser Ranging System

3. Specifications

RealLight provides a wide selection of eye-safe Er:glass lasers for laser range finding, which feature compact size, high peak power and high reliability. This 1535nm series delivers pulse energies from 5μJ to 1000μJ and repetition rates from 1Hz to 10 kHz. Using the semiconductor laser packaging technique, these light-weight, compact-size lasers offer sufficient performance stability, and are well received by our professional customers. RealLight has a production capacity of 5000 units per month. The specifications are shown below.

Specifications of 1535nm lasers