The structure of the infrared range finder
The infrared rangefinder is mainly composed of a modulated light emitting unit, a receiving unit, a phase measuring unit, a counting and displaying unit, a logic control unit and a power converter. The light source is usually gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductor light-emitting diode. When a considerable current passes through the P-N junction of the GaAs diode, the P-N junction will emit near-infrared light with a wavelength of 0.72 μm and 0.94 μm, which is due to the electron-hole recombination in the doped GaAs semiconductor. , the excess energy is released in the form of photons. Moreover, the emitted light intensity will vary with the injection current. Therefore, if it is used as the light source of the rangefinder, the amplitude modulation of the emitted light intensity can be directly performed by changing the magnitude of the feed current, that is, this semiconductor light-emitting device has the dual functions of "radiation" and "modulation".
The infrared photodetection conversion device used to receive modulated light is usually a silicon photodiode or an avalanche photodiode, and these devices have a "photovoltage effect". When external light is irradiated on its P-N junction, due to the effect of photoelectric energy conversion, a potential difference can be generated at the two poles of P-N, and its magnitude will change with the intensity of incident light, thus playing the role of "demodulation".
