Ultra-broadband chaotic laser and microwave ranging based on an optoelectronic oscillator

Chaotic ranging uses random modulated carriers to interrogate targets. A high-ranging resolution requires a broadband chaotic signal with excellent randomness. In this work, ultra-broadband chaotic light waves and microwaves are simultaneously generated by an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO). A stable chaotic signal with a bandwidth of 21.33 GHz is generated. Low-frequency random modulation is used to mitigate the weak periodicity caused by the OEO loop. An experiment is implemented to demonstrate laser and microwave ranging. The ranging accuracy is 3.5 mm. It is promising for anti-interference detection with multi-sensor fusion.