Photonic integrated circuits for coherent ladar receivers

Coherent ladar systems offer discriminating and sophisticated standoff sensing capabilities. These systems typically sample the optical phase and amplitude in time and space. The rapid progress of photonic integrated circuit technology has the potential to enhance coherent ladar systems by offering multi-functionality and real-time reconfiguration suitable for system deployment on compact platforms. This work reviews the utility of silica and silicon photonic integrated circuits in multi-pixel coherent ladar receivers and also reviews system applications.