Photon Counting Instrumentation and Applications

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 5586

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies, Aston University, Aston St, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Interests: photon counting instrumentation; time-to-digital converters; time correlated single photon counting systems; photon counting LiDAR; quantum key distribution; remote sensing and wireless sensor networks

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Photon counting instrumentation plays a pivotal role in numerous technologies and systems, ranging from photon counting laser detection and ranging (LiDAR), quantum key distribution (QKD), positron emission tomography (PET), and fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) to quantum optics experiments in addition to many other systems and applications.

However, the increasing use of single photon detector arrays in such systems is increasing demand for photon counting instruments capable of high-resolution and precise measurements across many timing channels. This is posing a considerable technical challenge in how to best implement time-to-digital converters (TDC) or time-to-amplitude converters (TACs) which are scalable, whilst offering the high linearity, precision, and low dead-times required by the detectors. In addition, the increased number of timing channels is also posing a considerable challenge in how to transfer timestamps between the instrument and the computer used for the storing/post processing of timestamps. On-chip processing of timestamps in hardware offers a potential solution to communication bandwidth limits and is likely to be key in enabling real-time systems.

This Special Issue aims to present the latest state-of-the-art research on photon counting instrumentation and photon counting applications. Researchers are invited to submit papers on the following topics:

  • Time-to-digital converters (TDCs);
  • Time-to-amplitude converters (TACs);
  • Detector arrays with onboard timing electronics;
  • Methods to improve TDC dead-time, linearity, and precision;
  • Coincidence counting instruments;
  • Time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) instruments;
  • TDC timestamp post processing algorithms and use of graphical processing units (GPUs) to speed up processing;
  • High throughput instrument to computer communication systems to enable high-rate timestamping;
  • Applications of photon counting such as photon counting LiDAR, quantum optics, quantum key distribution, biophotonic applications, etc.;
  • Other related photon counting systems, techniques or applications.

Dr. Richard Nock
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • photon counting
  • time-to-digital converters
  • time-to-amplitude converters
  • time correlated single photon counting
  • coincidence counting
  • photon counting systems

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 6939 KiB  
Article
Linearity and Optimum-Sampling in Photon-Counting Digital Holographic Microscopy
by Nazif Demoli, Denis Abramović, Ognjen Milat, Mario Stipčević and Hrvoje Skenderović
Photonics 2022, 9(2), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics9020068 - 27 Jan 2022
Viewed by 2404
Abstract
In the image plane configurations frequently used in digital holographic microscopy (DHM) systems, interference patterns are captured by a photo-sensitive array detector located at the image plane of an input object. The object information in these patterns is localized and thus extremely sensitive [...] Read more.
In the image plane configurations frequently used in digital holographic microscopy (DHM) systems, interference patterns are captured by a photo-sensitive array detector located at the image plane of an input object. The object information in these patterns is localized and thus extremely sensitive to phase errors caused by nonlinear hologram recordings (grating profiles are either square or saturated sinusoidal) or inadequate sampling regarding the information coverage (undersampled around the Nyquist frequency or arbitrarily oversampled). Here, we propose a solution for both hologram recording problems through implementing a photon-counting detector (PCD) mounted on a motorized XY translation stage. In such a way, inherently linear (because of a wide dynamic range of PCD) and optimum sampled (due to adjustable steps) digital holograms in the image plane configuration are recorded. Optimum sampling is estimated based on numerical analysis. The validity of the proposed approach is confirmed experimentally. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photon Counting Instrumentation and Applications)
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16 pages, 2814 KiB  
Article
Detection Probability Analysis of True Random Coding Photon Counting Lidar
by Yang Yu, Zhangjun Wang, Kuntai Ma, Chao Chen, Xiufen Wang, Boyang Xue, Xianxin Li, Feng Zhang, Xin Pan, Quanfeng Zhuang and Hui Li
Photonics 2021, 8(12), 545; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8120545 - 30 Nov 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2558
Abstract
With the wide application of lidar in the future, the problem of crosstalk between lidars will become more serious. True random coding photon counting lidar with high anti-crosstalk ability will play an important role in solving this problem. In this paper, based on [...] Read more.
With the wide application of lidar in the future, the problem of crosstalk between lidars will become more serious. True random coding photon counting lidar with high anti-crosstalk ability will play an important role in solving this problem. In this paper, based on the working principle of Gm-APD, the detection probability theoretical model of true random coding photon counting lidar is built, and the impact of jitter on detection probability is considered for the first time. The influence of mean echo photon number, mean pulse count density, sequence length and pulse width on detection probability is analyzed. Monte Carlo simulation and experimental results are highly consistent with the theoretical model, which proves the correctness of the detection probability theoretical model. This theoretical model provides an effective means to evaluate the system performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photon Counting Instrumentation and Applications)
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