Synchronous single-photon LiDAR ranging with up to two triggers per pulse cycle

Single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD)-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) introduces significant pileup errors at high echo photon flux due to the SPAD's dead time. To expand the application of single-photon LiDAR in the field of remote sensing, autonomous driving, etc., it is crucial to perform rapid and accurate ranging within an echo photon flux of a wide dynamic range. Emerging SPAD array detectors combined with specific photon detection modes attempt to strike a balance between photon detection efficiency and hardware resources, necessitating the development of appropriate dead time compensation methods. Therefore, we experimentally investigated a synchronous single-photon ranging LiDAR operating in a mode where up to two photons are detected per laser cycle, and proposed dead time compensation methods based on forward modeling of the photon detection process. The results show that, using a wide laser pulse of 3.5 ns, the compensated ranging error is less than 4.2 cm, while the uncompensated ranging error is as max as 17.96 cm. Our method provides a reference for dead time compensation in single-photon LiDAR that requires comprehensive consideration of detection efficiency and hardware resources.