Single-Photon 3D imaging at 10km
If we direct a pulsed laser towards an object, it is possible to measure the return time-of-flight of the pulse in order to ascertain the distance to the object. By scanning the beam across the field of view, we can reconstruct a full depth profile of the object. Prof. Buller at IPaQS, working with industrial collaborators at Leonardo in Edinburgh, have used time-resolved single-photon measurements to reconstruct three-dimensional images of very distant objects In this work, the team examined a number of sites around the city of Edinburgh at distances up to 10km, using only eye-safe pulsed lasers emitting an average power of only 10mW. Images were reconstructed at an average of less than one photon per pixel by using bespoke computational imaging algorithms.