I found this video about using a laser diode to measure sub-micron change in distance Laser diode self-mixing: Range-finding and sub-micron vibration measurement - YouTube
I'm wondering is there anyway we can amplify a Lidar sensor (such as the VL53L0X I'm having) in order to measure such small changes. Since the laser diode only have 650nm wavelengths while the VL53L0X have 940nm.
Fascinating video!
The effect shown relies on interference within the laser diode housing. Lidar sensors are far more complicated and it seems unlikely that they could be used in the same way.
However, to increase the resolution from any sensor that measures an analog quantity, you can always try oversampling and averaging (PDF link). For example, sum up 16 readings and divide by four.