Time-of-flight laser ranging and imaging at 1550 nm using low-jitter superconducting nanowire single-photon detection system.

We developed a time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) system based on the low-jitter superconducting nanowire single-photon detection (SNSPD) technology. The causes of jitters in the TCSPC system were analyzed. Owing to the low jitter of the SNSPD technology, a system jitter of 26.8 ps full width at half-maximum was achieved after optimizing the system. We demonstrated time-of-flight laser ranging at 1550 nm wavelength at a standoff distance of 115 m based on this TCSPC system. A depth resolution of 4 mm was achieved directly by locating the centroids of each of the two return signals. Laser imaging was also performed using the TCSPC system. This low-jitter TCSPC system using the SNSPD technology presents great potential in long-range measurements and imaging applications for low-energy-level and eye-safe laser systems.