3D compressive imaging system with a single photon-counting detector

For photon-counting based compressive imaging systems, it is difficult to obtain 3D image with intensity and depth information precisely due to the dead time and shot noise effect of photon-counting detectors. In this study, we design and achieve a 3D compressive imaging system using a single photon-counting detector. To overcome the radiometric distortion arising from the dead time and shot noise, considering the response mechanism of photon-counting detectors, a Bayesian posterior model is derived and a Reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC)-based method is proposed to iteratively obtain model parameters. Experimental and simulation results indicate that the 3D image of targets can be effectively and accurately reconstructed with a smaller number of repeated illuminations and no longer restricted by the photon flux conditions (i.e., breaking through the upper limit of the received signal level). The proposed Bayesian RJMCMC-based radiometric correction method is not only beneficial to single-photon 3D compressive imaging system, but also to any other photon-counting based systems, e.g., photon-counting lidars. In addition, limiting condition of recovering the actual photon number for photon-counting imaging or lidar systems is also quantitatively analyzed, which is of great significance to the system scheme design.(c) 2023 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement