The University of Science and Technology has made important progress in the field of short-wave infrared single-photon lidar

China Electronic Components Association December 12, 2023

The short-wave infrared single-photon Lidar developed by Professor Wang Liang's team and partners at the University of Science and Technology of China has made significant progress.The research team developed an all-weather, large-scan Angle lidar imaging system through a fully independently developed single-photon detector chip, matching readout circuit, and combined with all-fiber liDAR, providing a pioneering method for short-wave infrared single-photon imaging and its core chip preparation.

The relevant results are entitled "Single-Photon Depth Imaging Using a Photodetector With a Wire-Bonding Quenching Resistor". Published in IEEE Sensors Journal, a leading journal in the field of detectors. Professor Wang Liang from the Department of Optics and Optical Engineering at the University of Science and Technology of China is the corresponding author of the paper, and doctoral candidate Liu Yingjian is the first author of the paper.

Single photon Lidar technology plays a key role in remote sensing, automatic driving, UAV navigation and other fields. The technology uses time-dependent single photon counting technology (TCSPC) to achieve ultra-high resolution and long-distance target detection, which has great potential and has been widely used in military, aerospace, environmental monitoring and other fields. Among them, the 1550 nm band Lidar with good atmospheric transmission performance and human eye safety is the focus of current research.

In the process of chip packaging, the research team quenched resistance by gold wire bonding, so that InGaAs single photon detector can work in free running mode with better photoelectric performance under the optimized readout circuit.

The single photon detection module achieves a low post-pulse probability of 3.96% and a dark count rate of 0.9 KHz at 243 K operating temperature and 5 μs dead time. At the same time, the module can achieve a depth of 3 km in foggy days with a low pulsed laser power (5 mW@40 KHz) in the LiDAR system. And the research team has realized the independent development of the entire liDAR system from the core chip and readout circuit of the lidar, which is of great significance to promote the domestic short-wave infrared long-range single-photon lidar.

This research was supported by the Department of Science and Technology of Anhui Province, School of Physics, China University of Science and Technology, 38th Institute of China Electronics Science and Technology Group, China University of Science and Technology Research and Manufacturing Center, China University of Science and Technology, and the Key Laboratory of Quantum Information of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.