Abstract: In one embodiment, a lidar system includes a light source configured to emit local-oscillator (LO) light and pulses of light, the emitted pulses of light including a first emitted pulse of light, where an optical frequency of the first emitted pulse of light is offset from an optical frequency of the LO light by a first frequency offset. The lidar system further includes a receiver configured to detect the LO light and a first received pulse of light, the first received pulse of light including light from the first emitted pulse of light scattered by a target located a distance from the lidar system. The receiver includes a detector, where: the LO light and the first received pulse of light are coherently mixed together at the detector, and the detector is configured to produce a photocurrent signal corresponding to the coherent mixing.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a lidar system includes a light source configured to emit pulses of light, where each emitted pulse of light includes a spectral signature of multiple different spectral signatures. The lidar system also includes a receiver configured to detect a received pulse of light, the received pulse of light including light from one of the emitted pulses of light scattered by a target located a distance from the lidar system. The emitted pulse of light includes one of the spectral signatures. The receiver includes a detector configured to produce a photocurrent signal corresponding to the received pulse of light, a frequency-detection circuit configured to determine, based on the photocurrent signal, a spectral signature of the received pulse of light, and a pulse-detection circuit configured to determine, based on the photocurrent signal, a time-of-arrival of the received pulse of light.