Photon‐Counting Compressed Spatial‐Spectral Imaging for 4D Information Retrieval

Abstract Photon‐counting spectrometers based on single‐photon detectors are demonstrated as highly sensitive tools for optical spectrum analysis. In this work, an imaging scheme using such devices is proposed to achieve spatial‐spectral imaging for 4‐D information retrieval. It combines spatial and spectral compressed sensing with depth measurement based on time‐of‐flight (ToF). Hence, it is named Photon‐Counting Compressed Spatial‐Spectral Imaging (PCCSSI). A proof‐of‐principle experiment is carried out with a photon‐counting spectrometer based on superconducting nanowire single‐photon detectors (SNSPDs) and metasurfaces. The experiment results demonstrate the principle of PCCSSI, showing its potential for high‐dimensional imaging under photon‐sparse scenarios, such as spectral remote sensing, spectral fluorescence imaging, etc.