Computational 3D and reflectivity imaging with high photon efficiency

Abstract

Imaging the 3D structure and reflectivity of a scene can be done using photon-counting detectors. Traditional imagers of this type typically require hundreds of detected photons per pixel for accurate 3D and reflectivity imaging. Under low light-level conditions, in which the mean photon count is small, the inverse problem of forming 3D and reflectivity images is difficult due to the Poisson noise inherent in low-flux operation. In this thesis, we propose and study two computational imagers (one passive, one active) that can form accurate images at low light levels. We demonstrate the superior imaging quality of the proposed imagers by comparing them with the state-of-the-art optical imaging techniques.