A specific system structure of down-looking synthetic aperture imaging ladar (SAIL) is given, and a far-field experiment over 6 km of down-looking SAIL under this system design is carried out. The down-looking SAIL can overcome the influence of atmospheric turbulence to a great extent. By applying this system design, it also has advantages in self-compensating phase modulation. A fine image is obtained after aligning in the orthogonal direction and phase error compensation in the travel direction based on a dominant scatterer. The achieved imaging resolutions in the two dimensions are both better than 5 cm.

This Letter gives the general construction of an enhanced self-heterodyne synthetic aperture imaging ladar (SAIL) system, and proposes the principle of image processing. A point target is reconstructed in the enhanced self-heterodyne SAIL as well as in down-looking SAIL experiments, and the achieved imaging resolution of the enhanced self-heterodyne SAIL is analyzed. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the point target final image in the enhanced self-heterodyne SAIL is higher than that in the down-looking SAIL. The enhanced self-heterodyne SAIL can improve the SNR of the target image in far-distance imaging, with practicality.

The electric field distribution in LiNbO3 crystal under different electrode shape is presented by using the digital holographic interferometry. Three configurations of phase modulator including the rectangular electrode type, single-triangle electrode type, and dual-triangle electrode type are performed in this experiment. The nonuniform electric field distribution in these phase modulators are observed and the electric field increases with voltage increasing. The digital holographic interferometry with high electro-optic effect improves the measurement precision. The digital holographic interferometry provides an effective way for studying the electric field distribution. Such in situ quantitative analysis of electric field distribution is a key to optimizing electrode shape.

A static-mode synthetic aperture imaging ladar (SAIL) in which the target and carrying platform are kept still during the collection process is proposed and demonstrated. A target point of 0.5 mm×0.5 mm and a two-dimensional (2D) object are reconstructed in the experiments, in which an optical collimator with a focal length of 10 m is used to simulate the far-field condition. The achieved imaging resolution is in agreement with the theoretical design. The static-mode down-looking SAIL has the capability to eliminate the influence from the atmospheric turbulence and can be conveniently operated outdoors.

We present a tabletop-scale spotlight-mode down-looking synthetic aperture imaging ladar (DL SAIL) demonstrator, which is performed by a collimator with 10 m focal length to simulate the far-field optical field. A specular-point target and a diffuse-reflection target have been used for resolution analysis and 2D imaging, respectively. The experimental result is in agreement with the theoretical design. The experiment setup is capable of simulating a real application scenario for further study. This Letter is focused on the proposition and implementation of spotlight-mode DL SAIL.