On July 6, 2026, a collaborative team from Canada and the United States unveiled a groundbreaking lidar system. This innovative system is capable of synchronously capturing a target's position, velocity, and surface material properties in a single scan. By expanding lidar's perception capabilities beyond traditional distance measurement to encompass multi-dimensional physical attributes, this development carries profound implications for autonomous driving, robotics, and remote sensing. The research findings were published in the latest issue of the esteemed journal Optica.

The system employs a modified coherent optical modem to emit laser beams with random modulation through two orthogonal polarization channels. By capturing the changes in polarization characteristics following the laser's interaction with the target surface, the system can accurately determine the target's distance, velocity, and material properties. Furthermore, the team has developed sophisticated polarization-sensing models and algorithms to effectively extract meaningful signals from the data.

The new lidar system exhibits exceptional performance in areas with weak signals. It maintains stable operation even under strong ambient light interference. Additionally, it enables imaging through scattering media, making it well-suited for low-visibility conditions such as fog, rain, or dust.