Imaging with SPADs and DMDs: Seeing through Diffraction-Photons

This paper addresses the problem of imaging in the presence of diffraction-photons. Diffraction-photons arise from the low contrast-ratio of DMDs ($\sim 1000: 1$), and very much degrade the quality of images captured by SPAD-based systems. Herein, a joint illumination/deconvolution scheme is designed to overcome diffraction-photons, enabling the acquisition of intensity and depth images. Additionally, a proof-of-concept experiment is conducted to demonstrate the viability of the designed scheme. It is shown that by co-designing the illumination and deconvolution phases of imaging, one can substantially overcome diffraction-photons.