Single Photon Event-Driven 3D Imaging

Single Photon Event-Driven 3D Imaging | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Single Photon Event-Driven 3D Imaging Paul Kirkland, Alex Vicente Sola, Matthias Aquilina, Ashley Lyons This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4351302/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Event-based imaging is at the forefront of high-speed sensing applications due to the low latency of asynchronous detection and low data volume. Conventionally, events used in this form of sensing correspond to changes in intensity on the microsecond scale, this inherently makes the approach incompatible with scenarios where single photon detection is required such as single photon Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), and low-light-level imaging. We propose a new imaging modality which is driven instead by events generated from the detection of individual photons. We use a form of single-pixel imaging in which information from a 3-Dimensional scene is encoded entirely in the time-of-arrival of the photons such that each detected photon can be used to update an estimation of all transverse positions simultaneously. The image reconstruction is performed by a Spiking Convolutional Neural Network (SCNN) which has a natural complementarity with single photon detection that allows the scheme to run fully asynchronously and be driven by the detection of each individual photon. Physical sciences/Engineering/Electrical and electronic engineering Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical techniques/Imaging and sensing Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4351302","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":303131042,"identity":"e4dd041e-76d3-41e0-bedb-e9b8027ec6ae","order_by":0,"name":"Paul Kirkland","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABEElEQVRIie2RMUvDQBiGv3KQLIlZ3xDpb/hcGrP0t6TcKugkDiUUCu0izgWr/8El80EhLidZOwYKmSpk6igmDbqYlI4O9wzHce89fO9xRAbD/2SgSIFg11vn4XhitYHT77SKaC5pApE4S6FWcRdnKKGtWZG+vvXnoiw+X5MkXOZZQdMxsVadSvR4UytbRM/CCq9e0g0utbSZMkn8MetUWDVKBR4KGgVuqgCSFshSxHl3Mc73P4p9CNx1Ani7Wvk6oWzbYhwIp54yEwDqKYOF6i0Wrco7FWuwP3fu/XW28VfYjTB5ko7f8/zQk29FlSWM92WK/TTx4E1KVIfx8ELH3cWa5W8Un/hI7gsMBoPB8Ms35H9WNI8hTn4AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5905-6816","institution":"University of Strathclyde","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Paul","middleName":"","lastName":"Kirkland","suffix":""},{"id":303131043,"identity":"51d40652-f5eb-4d5e-927f-0a908e95f068","order_by":1,"name":"Alex Vicente Sola","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2370-6562","institution":"University of Strathclyde","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alex","middleName":"Vicente","lastName":"Sola","suffix":""},{"id":303131044,"identity":"b3e86ace-22fb-4040-a76d-04aac300f0ca","order_by":2,"name":"Matthias Aquilina","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Glasgow","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Matthias","middleName":"","lastName":"Aquilina","suffix":""},{"id":303131045,"identity":"b2068bd2-cf25-4896-bb94-616f66cd6f93","order_by":3,"name":"Ashley Lyons","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6804-2106","institution":"University of Glasgow","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ashley","middleName":"","lastName":"Lyons","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-04-30 19:55:32","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4351302/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4351302/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-025-00555-7","type":"published","date":"2025-11-29T05:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":99419429,"identity":"06563b79-ab4f-4849-a466-c67a2ac67e83","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-03 08:11:30","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":4780611,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SinglePhotonEventDriven3DImaging.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4351302/v1_covered_19ab2e4e-ba78-4b7e-823f-68cc0203814c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Single Photon Event-Driven 3D Imaging","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4351302/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4351302/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Event-based imaging is at the forefront of high-speed sensing applications due to the low latency of asynchronous detection and low data volume. 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