Dark Count Statistics in Geiger-Mode Avalanche Photodiode Cameras for 3-D Imaging LADAR

Abstract

We describe cameras incorporating focal plane arrays of Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes (GmAPDs) that enable 3-D imaging in laser radar (LADAR) systems operating at wavelengths near 1.0 and 1.5 μm. GmAPDs based on the InGaAsP material system achieve single-photon sensitivity at every pixel of the array and are hybridized to custom CMOS ROICs providing 0.25 ns timing resolution. We present camera-level performance for photon detection efficiency and dark count rate, along with a survey of the evolution of performance for a substantial number of 32 × 32 cameras. We then describe a temporal statistical analysis of the array-level dark count behavior that distinguishes between Poissonian intrinsic dark count rate and non-Poissonian crosstalk counts. We also report the spatial analysis of crosstalk events to complement the statistical temporal analysis. Differences between cameras optimized for the two different wavelengths-1.0 and 1.5 μm-are noted, particularly with regard to crosstalk behavior.Index Terms-Single-photon, avalanche photodiode (APD), Geiger mode, laser radar (LADAR), three-dimensional (3-D) imaging, short-wave infrared (SWIR).

InGaAs/InAlAs single photon avalanche diode for 1550 nm photons

“…The vast majority of SPADs being used have a planar structure similar to those of fibre-optic telecommunication InGaAs/InP APDs [ 6 , 7 ], that use an InGaAs absorption layer and an InP multiplication layer. They are optimized for detection of photons at the wavelength of 1550 nm.…”

Avalanche Photodiode Focal Plane Arrays and Their Application to Laser Detection and Ranging

“…Like InGaAs/InP SPADs [40], InGaAsP/InP SPADs are also extensively studied and practically explored for their utility in many fields including single photon imaging [41] and quantum information processing [42,43] in the near-infrared wavelength range. Thanks to the advanced epitaxial techniques, this kind of SPADs has been well developed and applied in, e.g., LADAR in recent years [41,44]. Nevertheless, many critical problems are still open to be resolved.…”

“…As a SPAD array is used, there is usually a common bias V 0 generally applied to more than thousands of pixels [44]. Provided structure fluctuations exist among the numerous pixels, the Avalanche Photodiode Focal Plane Arrays and Their Application to Laser Detection and Ranging http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.81294…”

Geiger-mode three-dimensional image sensor for eye-safe flash LIDAR

“…Thus, Geiger-mode [26], which is capable of photon counting, is adopted as the APD operational mode. There are few 3D image sensors using InGaAs Geiger-mode APDs, other than a device by MIT Lincoln Laboratory [27], Princeton Lightwave [28,29] and one by our research group, Hamamatsu Photonics [30]. To increase the number of pixels in the future, in this study we reduced the pixel spacing from 100 µm as in Ref.…”