FIRST-PHOTON IMAGING

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Ahmed Kirmani*1, Dheera Venkatraman1 , Dongeek Shin1, Andrea Colaço1, Franco N. C. Wong1, Jeffrey H. Shapiro1, Vivek K Goyal*1,2
 

1Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.

2Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston MA 02215.
*Correspondence to: akirmani@mit.edu, goyal@bu.edu.
   
 

Imagers that use their own illumination can capture 3D structure and reflectivity information. With photon-counting detectors, images can be acquired at extremely low photon fluxes. To suppress the Poisson noise inherent in low-flux operation, such imagers typically require hundreds of detected photons per pixel for accurate range and reflectivity determination. We introduce a low-flux imaging technique, called first-photon imaging, which is a computational imager that exploits spatial correlations found in real-world scenes and the physics of low-flux measurements. Our technique recovers 3D structure and reflectivity from the first detected photon at each pixel. We demonstrate simultaneous acquisition of sub-pulse duration range and 4-bit reflectivity information in the presence of high background noise. First-photon imaging may be of considerable value to both microscopy and remote sensing.

   
   
 

PUBLICATION

 

 

First-Photon Imaging

Ahmed Kirmani, Dheera Venkatraman, Dongeek Shin, Andrea Colaco, Franco N. C. Wong, Jeffrey H. Shapiro, Vivek K Goyal

Science 3 January 2014: 343 (6166), 58-61.Published online 29 November 2013

[DOI:10.1126/science.1246775]

 

Manuscript PDF (courtesy AAAS)

   
 

@article{Kirmani03012014,

author = {Kirmani, Ahmed and Venkatraman, Dheera and Shin, Dongeek and Colaco, Andrea and Wong, Franco N. C. and Shapiro, Jeffrey H. and Goyal, Vivek K},

volume = {343},
number = {6166},
pages = {58-61},
year = {2014},
doi = {10.1126/science.1246775},

URL = {direct access abstract (courtesy AAAS)},

eprint = {direct access full article PDF (courtesy AAAS)},

journal = {Science}

}

 

 

NEWS

 
BBC News: Camera takes 3D photos in the dark

Nature News: Stealth camera takes pictures virtually in the dark

MIT News: 3-D images, with only one photon per pixel