Light-In-Flight Capture

MDPI Sensors paper "Light-In-Flight Imaging by a Silicon Image Sensor: Toward the Theoretical Highest Frame Rate" by Takeharu Goji Etoh, Tomoo Okinaka, Yasuhide Takano, Kohsei Takehara, Hitoshi Nakano, Kazuhiro Shimonomura, Taeko Ando, Nguyen Ngo, Yoshinari Kamakura, Vu Truon Son Dao, Anh Quang Nguyen, Edoardo Charbon, Chao Zhang, Piet De Moor, Paul Goetschalckx, and Luc Haspeslagh from Kindai University, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka University, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, EPFL, Delft University, and IMEC presents a further improvement of high frame rate sensors:

"Light in flight was captured by a single shot of a newly developed backside-illuminated multi-collection-gate image sensor at a frame interval of 10 ns without high-speed gating devices such as a streak camera or post data processes. This paper reports the achievement and further evolution of the image sensor toward the theoretical temporal resolution limit of 11.1 ps derived by the authors. The theoretical analysis revealed the conditions to minimize the temporal resolution. Simulations show that the image sensor designed following the specified conditions and fabricated by existing technology will achieve a frame interval of 50 ps. The sensor, 200 times faster than our latest sensor will innovate advanced analytical apparatuses using time-of-flight or lifetime measurements, such as imaging TOF-MS, FLIM, pulse neutron tomography, PET, LIDAR, and more, beyond these known applications."