Ultraviolet photon-counting single-pixel imaging

Abstract

We demonstrate photon-counting single-pixel imaging in the ultraviolet region. Toward this target, we develop a high-performance compact single-photon detector based on a 4H-SiC single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD), where a tailored readout circuit with active hold-off time is designed to restrain detector noise and operate the SPAD in the free-running mode. We use structured illumination to reconstruct 192 × 192 compressed images at a 4 fps frame rate. To show the superior capability of ultraviolet characteristics, we use our single-pixel imaging system to identify and distinguish different transparent objects under low-intensity irradiation and image ultraviolet light sources. The results provide a practical solution for general ultraviolet imaging applications.