Imaging with SPADs and DMDs: Seeing through Diffraction-Photons

TL;DR

This paper presents a joint illumination-deconvolution approach to improve imaging quality in SPAD-based systems affected by diffraction-photons caused by low contrast DMDs, demonstrated through a proof-of-concept experiment.

Contribution

A novel co-designed illumination and deconvolution scheme that effectively mitigates diffraction-photons in SPAD imaging systems.

Findings

Substantially overcomes diffraction-photons effects.

Enables high-quality intensity and depth imaging.

Proof-of-concept validates the approach.

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of imaging in the presence of diffraction-photons. Diffraction-photons arise from the low contrast ratio of DMDs ($\sim\,1000:1$), and very much degrade the quality of images captured by SPAD-based systems. Herein, a joint illumination-deconvolution scheme is designed to overcome diffraction-photons, enabling the acquisition of intensity and depth images. Additionally, a proof-of-concept experiment is conducted to demonstrate the viability of the designed scheme. It is shown that by co-designing the illumination and deconvolution phases of imaging, one can substantially overcome diffraction-photons.