Lidar Components

Welch Mechanical Designs (WMD) has designed, built, and deployed numerous components for the Lidar community. We are now able to deliver all of the hardware needed to build most Lidar systems. Please contact us to discuss your system needs; we will be glad to discuss our solutions. For a sampling of our available items please review the following list.

Telescopes

WMD can provide a ruggedized, athermal telescope customized to meet your needs. Sizes available are 16-inch diameter and below. Common telescope designs are that of a Cassegrain telescope coupled into bulk optics, a fiber optic, or a combination of the two. The optic coatings can be customized for maximum transmission at various wavelengths. The mechanical structure is very rigid and its athermal properties make it well suited for the rigors of deployment in the field on land, sea, or in the air.

Beam Splitting Modules

We have designs for beam splitting modules that can be configured for any number of systems. Wavelength beamsplitters, power beam splitters, interference filters, etalons and many other optics are held rigidly with these modules and with low stress to the optic. These modules have been used in miltiple single photon counting systems where stray light intrusion is unacceptable.

Detector Mounting Components

We have designs for mounting various photomultiplier tubes, avalanche photodiodes, cooled and uncooled detectors, and other detectors. All are designed to maintain high dimensional precision, stability, and prevent stray light leaks.

Integrated Mechanisms

Various mechanisms can be integrated into your Lidar system. They include both manually and electrically actuated shutters, filter changers, field stops, irises, and after-pulse chopper wheels.

WMD can also integrate a boresight stabilization system. For many Lidar systems, the receiver package is generally very stable. Most boresight misalignment occurs slowly and originates in the transmitter system. A boresight stabilization system will lock and maintain the pointing axis of the laser relative to the receiver axis. This allows the receiver to be operated with a narrower field of view than a system with no stabilization. Therefore, the signal to noise ratio increases because the amount of background light collected by the system is reduced.

Environmental Enclosures

WMD can build an environmental enclosure to allow you to put your Lidar system anywhere in the world or the air above. If you want an enclosure for a system to run off the grid from a solar array or windmill in a remote and rugged environment, an enclosure for a salt spray environment, or a pressure vessel to protect your instrument in a high altitude, unpressurized aircraft, we can create a customized design for you.

More

WMD can also provide optical, electronics, and software expertise for your project. Whatever the requirements of your team, WMD can provide all your system needs.