Influence of time delays in semiconductor radiation sources of range finding lidars

For range finding lidars employing a semiconductor radiation source, time delays of the radiations from the various p-n junction regions with a nonuniform distribution of the modulation phase lead to range measurement errors. In the present paper the influence of the phase and brightness parameters of a semiconductor radiation source and of the light beam emitted by the range finder on the range measurement error is assessed. Formulas expressing this influence as a function of the range magnitude are proposed.