The effect of temporal separation of two Geiger mode avalanche photodiodes and variation of time bin widths on detection probabilities in LADAR system using two Geiger mode avalanche photodiodes

In this paper, the effect of temporal separation of two Geiger mode avalanche photodiodes and the variation of time bin widths on detection probabilities in LADAR system using two Geiger mode avalanche photodiodes (GmAPDs) was investigated. The system is implemented by using two GmAPDs with a beam splitter and applying comparative process to their ends. Then, the timing circuitry receives the electrical signals only if each GmAPD generates the electrical signals simultaneously. Although this system decreases the energy of a laser-return pulse scattered from the target, it is highly effective in reducing the false alarm probability because of the randomly distributed noise on the time domain. The temporal separation of two GmAPDs and the variation of the time bin widths result in the variation of detection probabilities. The experiments were performed to verify the effect of temporal separation of two GmAPDs and the variation of time bin widths on the detection probability in the LADAR system. As a result, the optimal temporal difference and the optimal time bin width were. Using these optimal values, a clear 3D image could be obtained by the simple acquisition of the raw time-of-flight data with high SNR.