Coincidence Photon-Counting Laser Ranging for Moving Targets With High Signal-to-Noise Ratio

We demonstrated a coincidence photon-counting laser ranging technique that allows for single-shot measurements on fast-moving objects under strong background light illumination. Coincidences registered by two single-photon detectors within a short time window of 2.4 ns were recorded as the distance information, improving the signal-to-noise ratio to 8.54 dB when the surrounding noise photons caused 5 × 10⁶ counts/s while the signal pulses contained 10 photons per pulse. Single-shot ranging of both moving and fast position-changing targets was demonstrated with high signal-to-noise contrast at few-photon level.