Range-gated imaging with speckle-free and homogeneous laser illumination

Homogeneous and speckle-free laser illumination devices are the key technology for high resolution active imaging and range-gated viewing systems. At ISL, a waveguide technology was developed to effectively reduce laser speckle of solid-state laser sources by a spatial or angular diversity approach, respectively. Further, a distant scene is illuminated with a homogeneous rectangular top-hat profile. In the present publication we give a theoretical description of the waveguide laser illumination devices and present results from ray tracing simulations and experimental investigation.