Disclosed herein are techniques for affecting the resolution of an optical scanning system. More specifically, a receiver of the optical scanning system includes a set of photodetectors and an optical beam directing subsystem. The optical beam directing subsystem is configured to, in each scan step of a plurality of scan steps, receive light reflected from a target region illuminated by a scanning beam and including a plurality of areas, and direct light reflected from each area of the plurality of areas to a corresponding photodetector in the set of photodetectors. Each photodetector of the set of photodetectors receives light reflected from a corresponding area of the plurality of areas to generate a detection signal.