A single photon imaging method for solving maximum likelihood estimation to improve photon utilisation

Haitao Lin; Guanghong Ao; Yahang Li

doi:10.1117/12.2666698

4 April 2023 A single photon imaging method for solving maximum likelihood estimation to improve photon utilisation

Haitao Lin, Guanghong Ao, Yahang Li

Proceedings Volume 12617, Ninth Symposium on Novel Photoelectronic Detection Technology and Applications; 126176A (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2666698
Event: 9th Symposium on Novel Photoelectronic Detection Technology and Applications (NDTA 2022), 2022, Hefei, China

Abstract

The Geiger area array (Avalanche Photo Diode) APD single photon detector is mainly used in the fields of long-distance remote sensing detection and target recognition due to the high sensitivity and high time resolution. However, as the laser imaging system is used for long-distance detection, the signal-to-noise ratio of the original image data collected by the detector is very small. Thus, the reconstruction of an accurate target image is often used, requiring a large number of raw data stacks, and resulting in extended acquisition times. Based on photon reflectivity estimation, in this paper an image reconstruction algorithm was proposed to address the issue of prolonged image acquisition time. The photon response number is first correlated with the photon flight time by establishing a 3-dimensional space-time matrix. the maximum likelihood estimation on the matrix was performed to realize image reconstruction with a few frames structure. The simulation experiment of the algorithm shows that the Root Means Square Error (RMSE) of the reconstructed image is only 0.1029 and the signal-to-noise ratio is 2:100. In a real scene, an InGaAs area array APD detector is employed to build a single-photon detection system, and the original image data of the target outside 1.3KM is collected. By comparing the imaging results of 200 frames and 10,000 frames of original data, it is confirmed that our method can be used in the condition of a small amount of photon response, and the quality of imaging can be effectively improved.

Citation Download Citation

Haitao Lin, Guanghong Ao, and Yahang Li "A single photon imaging method for solving maximum likelihood estimation to improve photon utilisation", Proc. SPIE 12617, Ninth Symposium on Novel Photoelectronic Detection Technology and Applications, 126176A (4 April 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2666698

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KEYWORDS

Reflectivity

Single photon detectors

Signal to noise ratio

Sensors

Single photon avalanche diodes

Image processing

Detection and tracking algorithms

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