In direct time-of-flight (D-TOF) light detection and ranging (LIDAR), accuracy and full-scale range (FSR) are the main performance parameters to consider. Particularly, in single-photon avalanche diodes (SPAD) based systems, the photon-counting statistics plays a fundamental role in determining the LIDAR performance. Also, the intrinsic performance ultimately depends on the system parameters and constraints, which are set by the application. However, the best-achievable performance directly depends on the selected depth estimation method and is not necessarily equal to intrinsic performance. We evaluate a D-TOF LIDAR system, in the particular context of smartphone applications, in terms of parameter trade-offs and estimation efficiency. First, we develop a simulation model by combining radiometry and photon-counting statistics. Next, we perform a trade-off analysis to study dependencies between system parameters and application constraints, as well as non-linearities caused by the detection method. Further, we derive an analytical model to calculate the Cramér–Rao lower bound (CRLB) of the LIDAR system, which analytically accounts for the shot noise. Finally, we evaluate a depth estimation method based on artificial intelligence (AI) and compare its performance to the CRLB. We demonstrate that the AI-based estimator fully compensates the non-linearity in depth estimation, which varies depending on application conditions such as target reflectivity.

In measuring cerebral blood flow (CBF) noninvasively using optical techniques, diffusing-wave spectroscopy is often combined with near-infrared spectroscopy to obtain a reliable blood flow index. Measuring the blood flow index at a determined depth remains the ultimate goal. In this study, we present a simple approach using dual-comb lasers where we simultaneously measure the absorption coefficient (μ_a), the reduced scattering coefficient (μ_s^′), and dynamic properties. This system can also effectively differentiate dynamics from various depths, which is crucial for analyzing multilayer dynamics. For CBF measurements, this capability is particularly valuable as it helps mitigate the influence of the scalp and skull, thereby enhancing the specificity of deep tissue.

We present a design that implements digitization of an analog SiPM's fast output on chip to pave the way to higher granularity in the digital conversion of photon detection. The design comprises a comparator bank, time-to-digital converters (TDCs), and electronics for interfacing with the external world. The TDC is a multipath, gated ring oscillator with a counter and phase detector, implemented in 0.35μm CMOS technology. Simulation results indicate a DNL of ±0.55LSB and an INL of ±1LSB, a large, adjustable range, and a typical resolution of 65ps (LSB).

Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs), which emerged as all solid state, MRI compatible alternative to PMTs, can provide high miniaturization and increased timing performance. Large effort has been spent in improving the figures of merit of such devices (e.g. jitter, timing resolution, sensitivity, noise, etc.). In this paper we propose a novel approach relying on the combination of photonic crystals with microlens arrays, integrated on top of each SPAD cell in the SiPM, to collimate and focus the light generated by a scintillator, in order to improve the overall timing performance of the system so as to approach the 10ps target, while at the same time reducing the noise floor (Dark Count Rate).

In this paper we present a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout system based on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), which is capable of converting any commercial 16-channel analog SiPM array into a hybrid device with fullydigital readout for application in time of flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET). In principle this hybrid SiPM array can be implemented with several leading edge discriminators (LEDs) per channel, so that multiple timestamps can be acquired per scintillation pulse allowing to estimate the time of interaction more robustly than if a single timestamp is used. These concepts were studied experimentally in two different ways. In the first approach, we utilized discrete components in combination with an array of time-to-digital converters (TDCs) implemented and validated on the FPGA. The overall resolution of each channel was 56 ps FWHM or better, while crosstalk was undetectable. In the second approach, we utilized a four-channel high-speed acquisition board operating at 5 GSPS and emulated a multiple-LED acquisition by post-processing the digitized waveforms. We present, for the first time, experimental results obtained with the best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE) to estimate the time of interaction from the multiple timestamps.

In time-of-flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET), the coincidence resolving time (CRT) has a strong influence on the overall performance. Multichannel digital silicon photomultipliers (MD-SiPMs) are able to obtain several timestamps for gamma photon timemark estimation. Using this feature, the CRT is improved and the system robustness is significantly increased by utilizing multiple photoelectron timestamps. In addition, the PET instrumentation chain is simplified because of the intrinsic digitization and integrated functionality of the MD-SiPM. The main objective of this work is to demonstrate the possibility of building a complete highly-miniaturized PET detector module for endoscopic applications. In addition, we show that it's possible to operate simultaneously several MD-SiPM array chips in order to build a small-animal PET detector modules. We present the implementation of two PET detector modules that are based on MD-SiPMs: a small animal and an endoscopic PET detector modules. The small animal PET detector module consists of 2×4 monolithic MD-SiPM array chips. In addition, this module includes a low-cost field programmable gate array (FPGA), a temperature controlling system and data transfer interfaces. The endoscopic PET detector module comprises a single monolithic array of 9×18 MD-SiPM and a small form-factor FPGA. In this module, a remarkable level of compactness is achieved. Eventually, a thermal characterization and a preliminary radiation measurement are presented.