Kilometer-range, high resolution depth imaging via 1560 nm wavelength single-photon detection

This paper highlights a significant advance in time-of-flight depth imaging: by using a scanning transceiver which incorporated a free-running, low noise superconducting nanowire single-photon detector, we were able to obtain centimeter resolution depth images of low-signature objects in daylight at stand-off distances of the order of one kilometer at the relatively eye-safe wavelength of 1560 nm. The detector used had an efficiency of 18% at 1 kHz dark count rate, and the overall system jitter was similar to 100 ps. The depth images were acquired by illuminating the scene with an optical output power level of less than 250 mu W average, and using per-pixel dwell times in the millisecond regime. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America