Abstract:
Single-photon lidar offers superior detection sensitivity, temporal resolution, and photon utilization compared to traditional linear lidar systems. It is increasingly important in fields such as remote sensing, military reconnaissance, and camouflage detection. This paper presents a domestically developed single-photon ranging system operating at the 1.5 μm wavelength. The system integrates a compact 1.5 μm fiber laser source with adaptive noise reduction and frequency modulation features to reduce system dark counts and eliminate range ambiguity. High-precision time-to-digital converters are used to control system size, while the non-coaxial transceiver design ensures simplicity, ease of adjustment, and low noise. The system achieves single-photon ranging up to 1.7 km with an optical power output of only 10 mW and a single pulse energy of 200 nJ. Experiments with multi-layer camouflage net-covered targets demonstrate accurate target identification through the camouflage, with a detection precision better than 0.1 m. The results indicate that the domestically produced system performs well, showing significant advantages in power consumption, size, and weight, and is expected to paly an important role in the future.