Passive Inter-Photon Imaging

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2104.00059v1
• Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2021 18:44:52 GMT
• Title: Passive Inter-Photon Imaging
• Authors: Atul Ingle, Trevor Seets, Mauro Buttafava, Shantanu Gupta, Alberto Tosi, Mohit Gupta, Andreas Velten
• Abstract summary: Digital camera pixels measure image intensities by converting incident light energy into an analog electrical current, and then digitizing it into a fixed-width binary representation. This direct measurement method suffers from limited dynamic range and poor performance under extreme illumination. We propose a novel intensity cue based on measuring inter-photon timing, defined as the time delay between detection of successive photons.
• Score: 18.739224941453983
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Digital camera pixels measure image intensities by converting incident light energy into an analog electrical current, and then digitizing it into a fixed-width binary representation. This direct measurement method, while conceptually simple, suffers from limited dynamic range and poor performance under extreme illumination -- electronic noise dominates under low illumination, and pixel full-well capacity results in saturation under bright illumination. We propose a novel intensity cue based on measuring inter-photon timing, defined as the time delay between detection of successive photons. Based on the statistics of inter-photon times measured by a time-resolved single-photon sensor, we develop theory and algorithms for a scene brightness estimator which works over extreme dynamic range; we experimentally demonstrate imaging scenes with a dynamic range of over ten million to one. The proposed techniques, aided by the emergence of single-photon sensors such as single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) with picosecond timing resolution, will have implications for a wide range of imaging applications: robotics, consumer photography, astronomy, microscopy and biomedical imaging.

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