Abstract

Single-photon light detection and ranging (LiDAR) has broad applications ranging from remote sensing to target recognition. In most cases, however, the repetition period of the pulsed laser limits the maximum distance that can be unambiguously determined. The relative distances are normally obtained using a depth map. Here, we propose and demonstrate a photon-efficient three-dimensional (3D) imaging framework which permits the operation of high laser pulse repetition rates for long-range depth imaging without range ambiguity. Our approach uses only one laser period per pixel and borrows the information from neighboring pixels to reconstruct the absolute depth map of the scene. We demonstrate the absolute depth map recovery at ranges between 2.2 km and 13.8 km using ∼1.41 signal photons per pixel. We also show the capability to image the absolute distances of moving targets in real time.

© 2023 Optica Publishing Group

Frequency-modulated continuous-wave 3D imaging with high photon efficiency

Xin Huang, Yu Hong, Zheng-Ping Li, and Feihu Xu
Opt. Lett. 47(14) 3568-3571 (2022)

Compact long-range single-photon imager with dynamic imaging capability

Peng-Yu Jiang, Zheng-Ping Li, and Feihu Xu
Opt. Lett. 46(5) 1181-1184 (2021)

Long range 3D imaging through atmospheric obscurants using array-based single-photon LiDAR

Peng-Yu Jiang, Zheng-Ping Li, Wen-Long Ye, Yu Hong, Chen Dai, Xin Huang, Shui-Qing Xi, Jie Lu, Da-Jian Cui, Yuan Cao, Feihu Xu, and Jian-Wei Pan
Opt. Express 31(10) 16054-16066 (2023)

Resolving range ambiguity in a photon counting depth imager operating at kilometer distances

Nils J. Krichel, Aongus McCarthy, and Gerald S. Buller
Opt. Express 18(9) 9192-9206 (2010)

Enhancing polarization 3D facial imaging: overcoming azimuth ambiguity without extra depth devices

Yudong Cai, Xuan Li, Fei Liu, Jiawei Liu, Kejian Liu, Zhiqiang Liu, and Xiaopeng Shao
Opt. Express 31(26) 43891-43907 (2023)