The invention relates to a control circuit (50) for pulsed control of a light-emitting means (52), in particular an LED or a laser diode (52), having a switched-mode power supply unit (54) with a first switch (64) arranged in a primary circuit of the switched-mode power supply unit (54), wherein the switched-mode power supply unit (54) has a primary-side connector (62) for connection to a supply voltage, a secondary-side connector (67) for supplying the light-emitting means (52) and a switching input (65) for operating the first switch (64), having a storage capacitor (68) arranged between the secondary-side connector (67) and a ground (66), having a second switch (70) arranged in a current path (71) in parallel with the storage capacitor (68), wherein the light-emitting means (52) is positionable in the current path (71), and having a control unit (72) to control the first and the second switch (64, 70), wherein the control unit (72) is designed to operate the first switch (64) in order to induce at least one charge pulse for charging the storage capacitor (68) in the secondary circuit and to operate the second switch (70) in order to discharge the storage capacitor (68) while generating a light pulse (82) via the light-emitting means (52). The invention also relates to a LiDAR-based environmental sensor, in particular a laser scanner, for use in a vehicle, having an abovementioned control circuit (50) and a laser diode (52). The invention further relates to a method for the pulsed control of a light-emitting means (52), in particular an LED or a laser diode (52), comprising the steps of providing a storage capacitor (68) and a current path (71) that is parallel thereto and in which the light-emitting means (52) is arranged, of generating at least one charge pulse for charging the storage capacitor (68), and of discharging the storage capacitor (68) via the light-emitting means (52) while generating a light pulse (82).