The invention provides a laser radar frequency domain sparse sampling method. The method comprises the following steps: step A, irradiating a target by using laser, and converting a laser echo signalinto a frequency domain by using a Fourier lens; and step B, performing sparse sampling by using a small-scale detector in the frequency domain, and reconstructing an image. According to the laser radar frequency domain sparse sampling method provided by the invention, the sparse sampling is performed on the laser echo signal by using the small-scale detector in the frequency domain, so that the problem of a large-scale detector required for wide-field high-resolution imaging is solved, the imaging effect of the large-scale detector is achieved, meanwhile, a large data volume generated by an existing method is avoided, and the imaging data transmission is facilitated.