Space-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors have provided valuable insight into the global, vertical distribution of aerosol and cloud layers in Earth’s atmosphere, and, more recently, of the distribution of phytoplankton in the ocean. However, the photodetectors in these sensors lack the performance necessary to capture the vertical structure of cloud tops and ocean phytoplankton to a fidelity sufficient for advancing our understanding of the global water cycle and ocean carbon cycle, respectively. Recent advancements in high-performance single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) arrays promise to enable these measurements, while also offering a sensitivity that will allow significant reductions in laser power and telescope size, with associated sensor-level size, weight, and power (SWaP) savings. To harness the unique benefits of SPADs for these measurements, we propose to develop a large-format array of photon counting SPADs with <10 ns dead time, along with readout integrated circuitry that sums and bins (histograms) photon counts in real time to the desired temporal resolution for the target application. The feasibility of this approach has been investigated with a small-scale 8 × 8 SPAD array proof of concept hardware demonstration developed at Politecnico di Milano, with promising initial results. Progress is reported on designs that will allow scaling the array and readout integrated circuit electronics to the requisite of 128 × 128 size in a chip-scale, low power, photodetector ideal for LiDAR remote sensing of the atmosphere and ocean from SWaP-constrained platforms.
In spaceborne LIDAR, the measurement of both intensity and time of flight of a luminous signal is widely used to investigate the atmosphere and the earth surface. In this scenario, a laser flash is sent from a satellite towards the target and a receiver records the intensity versus time: the recorded time correlates with the distance of the scatterer from the source while the intensity of the signal carries information on scatterer type, number density and intermediate extinction. Starting from an 8x8 array of high-performance Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) fabricated with a fully planar custom-technology, we developed a module prototype for spaceborne LIDAR. An alignment board is able to provide the alignment of the trigger signal coming from the laser with the start of the acquisition time with an accuracy better than 1ns. Data coming from the SPAD are then summed and a digital word corresponding to the number of counts in time bins as short as 8.3ns.
Recent developments on Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) have opened the way to the design of single-photon time of flight systems based on very large arrays of detectors. In particular, the exploitation of 3D stacking now allows the use of different technologies to optimize both the detector and the electronics. Very high performance in terms of Photon Detection Efficiency, Dark Count Noise and Afterpulsing probability can be achieved with a dedicated custom technology fabrication process, as the one developed by Politecnico di Milano. Custom SPADs require external high-performance electronics to be properly operated. In 2019, an active quenching circuit able to operate an external custom SPADs with a dead time as short as 6ns has been developed. These results open the way to the exploitation of these detectors in many applications as spaceborne remote sensing. The very short dead time, indeed, means having a quick recovery, that is paramount to investigate the layers below a very bright surface, e.g. to measure the backscatter from plankton immediately below the ocean surface. Targeting the exploitation of a 256x256 SPAD array, we designed a fully integrated front end and processing circuit able to provide the number of impinging photons during time windows as short as 8ns.
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