A source emits a pulse to an object to generate a particle, and an imaging detector produces a light flash at an X/Y hit position of the particle. The detector outputs a waveform arising from the particle. An event-driven camera provides a signal from the detector that includes intensity and time-over-threshold signals related to the light flash, time-of-arrival information of the event, and the X and Y hit position of the particle. A photodiode determines a time origin of the pulse from the source. A timing circuit is coupled to the detector and to the photodiode, and determines time-of-flight (TOF) of the particle based on the waveform, and based on the time origin of the pulse. The 3D coordinates are generated based on the X/Y hit position synchronized with the TOF of the particle.

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

Exemplary fields of technology for the present disclosure may relate to, for example, electron/ion imaging and an event-driven camera-based three-dimensional (3D) imaging system related to same.

BACKGROUND

Determination of the complete kinematic information of ions and electrons in an ionization/dissociation event typically makes use of knowledge of the full 3D momentum distribution information of the coincident fragments. Therefore, momentum imaging is one of the most powerful tools used in atomic, molecular, optical (AMO) and chemical physics. In recent years tremendous efforts and resources including a myriad of photoelectron-photoion coincidence spectrometers have been committed to understanding molecular fragmentation and ionization processes.

Two common momentum imaging spectrometers used in understanding reaction dynamics are velocity map imaging (VMI) and reaction microscopy (REMI) or cold-target recoil-ion momentum spectroscopy (COLTRIMS). Two common types of detectors employed, typically, are the 2D MCP/phosphor imaging detector and the delay-line detector for VMI and COLTRIMS, respectively. The 2D MCP/phosphor detector has outstanding multi-hit capability and high event rates but lacks the time resolution thus the 3D momentum can only be reconstructed with mathematical transformations, e. g. inverse Abel transform. On the other hand, delay-line detectors had achieved a very good time resolution but due to its longer dead time (˜5 ns), has a limited multi-hit capability, especially for detecting electrons with small kinetic energy. A few variations of delay-line detectors have been developed to circumvent this issue, among which are the multi-quadrant delay line anode with independent four sets of processing electronics and a delay-line anode incorporated with a phosphor screen to provide positional information. Recently, a hybrid camera-based 3D imaging system has been developed that achieves great multi-hit capability and time-of-flight (TOF) resolution. This system uses a CMOS camera to measure the 2D positions of electron/ion hits while using a synchronized digitizer to obtain the TOF through full waveform digitization and peak detection. The achieved TOF resolution is 32 ps and a dead time less than 0.7 nanoseconds.

Even though the camera employed in the 3D imaging setup is fast (1 Kframes/s) compared to conventional charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras, with current technology it is not fast enough to operate at an event rate approaching 1 Mhits/s, with the highest event rate achieved so far as 2 Khits/s with a laser running at 10 kHz. Ultrafast cameras do exist and can achieve 1 Mframes/s. However, these cameras are prohibitively expensive, and the durations of acquisition are usually very short due to the requirement of enormous amount of data storage. Recently, a new type of camera (event-driven) has been developed for both scientific and commercial usage. Instead of capturing frames that contains a fixed number of pixels in a conventional camera, in an event-driven camera, each pixel works independently and can timestamp each over-threshold event with high timing accuracy. Because the output is a stream of over-threshold events (true events) instead of a frame that could be full of zero-value pixels, the data rate may be greatly reduced. For example, the Tpx3Cam camera was designed to achieve more than 10 Mpixels/s with a standard 1 Gbs Ethernet connection. It should be noted that even though the Tpx3Cam and other event-driven cameras have achieved a few nanoseconds timing resolution, this resolution is not enough for electron or photon TOF measurements.

Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods that improve ultrafast 3D cameras.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

According to the disclosure, a system includes a source configured to emit a pulse of emissions to an object, to generate a particle in the object, and an imaging detector positioned to receive the particle, and configured to produce a light flash as an event that is indicative of an X and Y hit position of the particle in the imaging detector, and configured to output a waveform arising from the particle. An event-driven camera is directed toward the imaging detector and capable of providing an imaging detector signal that includes, when the event occurs: intensity and time-over-threshold (TOT) signals related to the light flash, time-of-arrival (TOA) information of the event, and the X and Y hit position of the particle based on a location of the light flash. A photodiode is positioned to detect signals indicative of a time origin of the pulse from the source. A timing circuit is coupled to the imaging detector and coupled to the photodiode, and configured to determine a time-of-flight (TOF) of the particle based on the waveform from the imaging detector, and based on the time origin of the pulse from the photodiode. A hardware processor and a memory having a program communicatively connected to the hardware processor, the hardware processor being communicatively connected to the timing circuit and to the event-driven camera, the hardware processor providing operations including generating 3D coordinates (position and time) for the particle based on the X and Y hit position of the particle synchronized with the TOF of the particle.

According to the disclosure, a method includes configuring a source to emit a pulse of emissions to an object, generating a particle in the object and positioning an imaging detector to receive the particle, the imaging detector configured to produce a light flash as an event that is indicative of an X and Y hit position of the particle in the imaging detector, and to output a waveform arising from the particle. The method includes directing an event-driven camera toward the imaging detector and capable of providing an imaging detector signal that includes, when the event occurs: intensity and time-over-threshold (TOT) signals related to the light flash, time-of-arrival (TOA) information of the event, and the X and Y hit position of the particle based on a location of the light flash. The method further includes positioning a photodiode to detect signals indicative of a time origin of the pulse from the source, coupling a timing circuit to the imaging detector and to the photodiode, and configuring the timing circuit to determine a time-of-flight (TOF) of the particle based on the waveform from the imaging detector, and based on the time origin of the pulse from the photodiode, and communicatively connecting a hardware processor and a memory having a program to the hardware processor, and communicatively connecting the hardware processor to the timing circuit and to the event-driven camera, and providing the hardware processor operations including generating 3D coordinates (position and time) for the particle based on the X and Y hit position of the particle synchronized with the TOF of the particle.

According to the disclosure, a method includes generating 3D coordinates for a particle based on an X and Y hit position of the particle synchronized with a time-of-flight (TOF) of the particle, the particle generated from a pulse of emissions directed an object, determining the X and Y hit position from an event-driven camera, and determining the TOF of the particle based on 1) a waveform from an imaging detector that receives the particle, and 2) based on a time origin of the particle, wherein the time origin of the particle is determined in a photodiode that receives the pulse of laser emissions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to the disclosure, an event-driven camera is demonstrated as a drop-in replacement for a conventional CMOS camera. In one example, the camera-based 3D imaging system achieves an event rate approaching 1 million electron hits per second (Mhits/s), while maintaining its outstanding TOF resolution and very low deadtime for electron detection.

Disclosed Setup and Methods

According to the disclosure, an experimental setup is disclosed inFIG. 1and as further set forth below. Two of the major components include an event-driven Tpx3Cam and a high-speed digitizer. Main components of Tpx3Cam is a Timepix3 chip bump-bonded to a specialized silicon optical sensor (256×256 pixels) and the SPIDR readout system. A distinct feature of this camera is its capability of providing information on both the Time-over-Threshold (TOT) and Time-of-Arrival (TOA) on every hit detected by an MCP/phosphor imaging detector. In this arrangement, the TOAs were used to timestamp electron events for synchronization purpose while the TOTs gave an estimate of the pixel brightness. To stream waveform data in real-time at 1 Mhits/s, a high-speed digitizer was used. In one example, an AlazarTech high-speed digitizer (ATS9373) was used to acquire MCP waveforms arising from each electron hit. The ATS9373 is a 12-bit PCIe3 digitizer capable of a sampling rate of 4 GigaSamples/s while sustaining a transfer rate of 6.8 GigaBytes/s to a host computer. Together with the trigger re-arm time (˜200 ns), these features enable a card, or the overall system, to capture more than 1 Mwaveforms/s with a time resolution of 250 ps.

To demonstrate the disclosed arrangement, the system measured photo-induced thermionic emission from graphene using a high repetition rate laser system, similar with previously reported work. The employed laser was a mode-locked Ti: Sapphire oscillator system (a repetition rate of 80 MHz). The center wavelength was 790 nm and the pulse duration was ˜35 fs. The laser input power was a few tens of mW. Commercially available chemical vapor deposition (CVD) graphene on fused silica surface (graphenesquare.com) was used without further modification or treatment. The sample was placed in a high vacuum chamber (˜10-9 torr) at room temperature and was directly mounted onto the first electrode of the spectrometer. The laser power was varied to yield different event rates (100 Khit/s, 200 Khits/s and 500 Khits/s) as read by the digitizer. The electrons emerging from graphene was accelerated and momentum-focused toward the MCP/P47 phosphor detefdropctor (Photonis APD, 75 mm diameter) by a four-electrode VMI spectrometer. Upon electron impacts, light flashes were produced on the phosphor screen indicating the hit-positions. The positions were then captured by the Tpx3Cam camera and the TOF was obtained by digitizing electrical signals associated with voltage drop in MCP produced by electron hits. The camera was operated in free-run mode, but the high-speed digitizer was triggered by MCP signals. The signal from MCP was first combined with the laser signal picked-off from a photodiode (FIG. 1) and was then digitized. At the observed event rates, the count rate per laser shot was still far below one, which enabled coincident measurement of the position and the TOF of each event. For multi-hit events, the correlation between peak height of digitizer events and the brightness of camera events (TOT) can be exploited to associate the TOF and the position for each event produced by the same laser pulse.

Because the digitizer and the camera cannot be triggered by the laser pulses directly due to the extremely high laser repetition rate, the positional information read from the camera and the TOF from digitizer will have to be synchronized to provide 3D information (2D position plus TOF) for each event. This was achieved offline by matching the global timestamps of the digitizer events with the TOAs of Tpx3Cam events, both of which were available from the metadata associated with each event. Note the TOA is not the TOF of the electron hits but a global timestamp registering the time when a camera event is taking place. The TOA has enough depth to run for several hours during the data acquisition providing the global timestamps with granularity of 1.6 ns while the digitizer timestamps can be as accurate as 1 ns.

The electron TOF was obtained using a peak detection algorithm on recorded digitizer traces, one of which is shown inFIG. 2. The relative time difference between the peaks of the sharp feature (signal from photodiode) and those of the broad feature (MCP signal) was used as the TOF. The closest peak is selected directly before the MCP signal as the laser timing. Because the cable length and light path difference, the absolute TOF will have a constant offset from this value, which requires a calibration step to obtain. Here, because the main purpose is to show the instrumentation, this calibration was not performed. The instrument TOF resolution was estimated by measuring the relative delay between two laser pulses and the standard deviation was about 20 ps, which was similar to previously reported 18 ps. This was much better than the time resolution of the digitizer thanks to oversampling of signals. This also suggests our current TOF measurement scheme should be able to achieve a similar electron TOF resolution at 32 ps.

According to the disclosure and referring again toFIGS. 1 and 2, a system100includes a source102configured to emit a pulse of emissions104to an object106, to generate a particle108in the object106that follows a path110from object106. A micro-channel plate (MCP)/phosphor imaging detector112is positioned to receive particle108, and configured to produce a light flash114as an event that is indicative of an X and Y hit position118of particle108in MCP/phosphor imaging detector112. MCP/phosphor imaging detector112is configured to output a waveform200arising from particle108. An event-driven camera116is directed toward MCP/phosphor imaging detector112and capable of providing an MCP signal119/200that includes, when the event occurs:1) intensity and time-over-threshold (TOT) signals related to light flash114;2) a coarse time-of-arrival (TOA) information of the event; and3) the X and Y hit position118of the particle based on a location of the light flash.

A photodiode120is positioned to detect signals from emissions104that include emission of a pulse122that passes unimpeded from source102to photodiode, the signals indicative of a time origin202of pulse122from source102(i.e., pulse122does not pass through any materials, such as electrodes128). A timing circuit124is coupled to MCP/phosphor imaging detector104and coupled to photodiode120via a signal decoupler126, and configured to determine a time-of-flight (TOF)204of particle108based on waveform200from MCP/phosphor imaging detector112, and based on time origin202of pulse122determined from photodiode120. A hardware processor130includes a memory having a program communicatively connected to hardware processor130, hardware processor130being communicatively connected to timing circuit124and to event-driven camera116, the hardware processor providing operations that include generating 3D coordinates (position and time) for particle108based on X and Y hit position118of particle108synchronized with TOF204of particle108.

Hardware processing operations further include generating the 3D coordinates by synchronizing 1) a first global time stamp that corresponds with the detected signals from photodiode120with 2) a second global time stamp that corresponds with TOA202from event-driven camera116. Timing circuit124includes, in one example, a digitizer132coupled to hardware processor130. Digitizer132is configured to digitize the signals from photodiode120, and to digitize the TOT signals from event-driven camera116. Hardware processor130determines TOF204based on the digitized signals from photodiode132and based on the digitized TOT signals.

In another example, timing circuit124includes instead of photodiode132, a time-to-digital converter (TDC)134coupled to the hardware processor, and TDC134determines a number of counts that correspond with TOF204based on time origin202of pulse104,122determined from photodiode120and based on a time of a peak of counts of MCP signal119/200.

In one example, source1102is a laser. In one example, the particle is one of an ion, an electron, and a photon, generated in object106. In one example, timing circuit124is triggered by MCP signal119/200. In one example, system100further includes one or more electrodes128having openings136through which particle108is accelerated from object106to MCP/phosphor imaging detector112. System100may include a signal decoupler138and an amplifier140.

According to the disclosure, referring toFIG. 3andFIG. 1, a method300starts at302and a pulse of emissions is emitted304from laser102to object106. Particle108is generated306and at308a light flash114occurs as an event in MCP/phosphor imaging detector112, providing at310X and Y hit position118via event-driven camera116. Pulse122provides time origin202at312. At314timing circuit124is coupled to photodiode120and to MCP/phosphor imaging detector112to determine TOF204at316. At3183D coordinates, including X/Y position and time-of-flight, are determined for particle108. As disclosed, the described process and system correspond to operation for one particle, and as indicated herein and inFIGS. 5 and 6, 3D coordinates are determined for many particles according to the disclosure.

FIG. 4illustrates, consistent with the above method and system, an illustration400of both acquisition402and analysis404. A laser trigger406applies to both the disclosed camera configuration408and the disclosed digital configuration410. For camera configuration408, image date is acquired412(to include thresholding and timestamping) via event-driven camera116, and counts, X/Y position, and intensity for the events are obtained414. Image data is stored416. TOF204is acquired416via digitizer configuration410, which as discussed includes timing circuit124and based on MCP signal119/200and pulse202from photodiode120. Such data for TOF traces including peak detection (number of peaks, time, amplitude). Corresponding data is stored420. Analysis404occurs either in hardware processor130or in a second offline computer142(FIG. 1). Data is reconciled422based on timing of events through the camera configuration and the digitizer configuration—and discarded if not424. If so, image intensities and amplitudes are compared and at428the X/Y position and corresponding time-of-flight are associated. Momentum is calculated430and, if matched432, coincidence events are constructed434. If not matched, the data is discarded436.

Results and Discussion

The 3D measurement results are shown inFIGS. 5A-5C.FIG. 5Cshows the 2D (X, Y) image as seen by the camera whereas theFIGS. 5A and 5Bshow unsynchronized and synchronized (X, t) images, respectively. The properly synchronized time-space image of the 3D electron Newton sphere (FIG. 5B) confirms previously observed delayed electron emission from graphene. The delayed emission has a tail extending beyond 1 ns after the laser irradiation. This was proposed as a signature of long-lived charge carriers in graphene. Such a feature was missing in unsynchronized image (FIG. 5A). This suggests the developed scheme for synchronizing the Tpx3Cam camera events and the digitizer events worked nicely and achieved a significantly higher event rate at 100 Khits/s. The data acquisition time was 30 seconds owing to the high event rate while previously taking an hour to accumulate similar counts. To show it was possible to go even higher event rates, the power of the laser is increased to reach 200 Khits/s and 500 Khits/s. The data at 200 Khit/s shows very similar structures (FIGS. 6A, 6B). However, the data at 500 Khits/s shows a truncated tail in Xt image (FIG. 6C) and a hole appears in the center of the XY image (FIG. 6D). These features were not due to real dynamics that arose from increasing the laser power. Instead, they were due to the deadtime of MCP. Because of the very high event rate and the small area that electrons hit on the detector, there was a significant chance that the same microchannel was hit consecutively within one millisecond. This hampers the full re-charging of the channel and thus reduces the gain. This was confirmed by much smaller clusters on the camera representing single hits at high event rates. This issue is common to MCP based imaging system. One solution is to expand the electron cloud using a smaller acceleration field for electrons. Because the energy of the photoelectrons from graphene is small, especially those arising from delayed emission, such a measure was not effective in the current setup. For this reason, it was not attempted to increase the event rate further. A new setup with a longer time-of-flight length will help solve this. However, it must be emphasized that this issue is not an inherent shortfall of the 3D imaging system presented here. The Tpx3Cam used here is capable of processing 12 Mpix/s (and up to 80Mpix/s with 10 Gbs optical readout) while the digitizer can acquire >5M waveforms/s. Therefore, there are no technical issues to prevent the developed imaging system from achieving 1 Mhits/s when a proper source/spectrometer is employed.

To summarize, the disclosed camera-based 3D imaging system is demonstrated by using the Tpx3Cam with great multi-hit capability and time resolution, and is capable of achieving 1 Mhits/s. It is noted that commercial event-driven cameras with timing accuracy of one microsecond would allow to achieve similar 1 Mhits/s performance at a potentially lower cost.

FIG. 7illustrates exemplary computers130and142shown inFIG. 1which may be coupled together via a network720. General interactions between various disclosed system elements are shown, and may include computers130and142having combined operation in system100, or separately as two systems shown as computer130and computer142. System100incorporates exemplary arrangements that operate as computers130and142as disclosed herein. While an exemplary system100is shown inFIG. 1, the exemplary components illustrated inFIG. 1are not intended to be limiting, may be optional, and are not essential to any other component or portion of system100.

Computers130and142may include one or more of devices702a,702b, server705, processor706, memory708, program710, Transceiver112, user interface714, network720, and database722. Device702may include any or all of devices702a,702b(e.g., a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer). Processor706may include a hardware processor that executes program710to provide any or all of the operations described herein

Connections may be any wired or wireless connections between two or more endpoints (e.g., devices or systems), for example, to facilitate transfer of information. The connection may include a local area network, for example, to communicatively connect the devices702aand702bwith network720. The connection may include a wide area network connection, for example, to communicatively connect server705with network720. The connection may include a wireless connection, e.g., radiofrequency (RF), near field communication (NFC), Bluetooth communication, Wi-Fi, or a wired connection, for example, to communicatively connect the devices702aand702b.

Any portion of the system may include a computing system and/or device that includes a processor106and a memory108. Computing systems and/or devices generally include computer-executable instructions, where the instructions may define operations and may be executable by one or more devices such as those listed herein. Computer-executable instructions may be compiled or interpreted from computer programs created using a variety of programming languages and/or technologies, including, without limitation, and either alone or in combination, Java language, C, C++, Visual Basic, Java Script, Perl, SQL, PL/SQL, Shell Scripts, Unity language, etc. The system may take many different forms and include multiple and/or alternate components and facilities, as illustrated in the Figures. While exemplary systems, devices, modules, and sub-modules are shown in the Figures, the exemplary components illustrated in the Figures are not intended to be limiting. Indeed, additional or alternative components and/or implementations may be used, and thus the above communication operation examples should not be construed as limiting.

In general, the computing systems and/or devices may employ any of a number of computer operating systems, including, but by no means limited to, versions and/or varieties of the Microsoft Windows® operating system, the Unix operating system (e.g., the Solaris® operating system distributed by Oracle Corporation of Redwood Shores, Calif.), the AIX UNIX operating system distributed by International Business Machines of Armonk, N.Y., the Linux operating system, the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems distributed by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., the BlackBerry OS distributed by Research In Motion of Waterloo, Canada, and the Android operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance. Examples of computing systems and/or devices may include, without limitation, mobile devices, cellular phones, smart-phones, super-phones, next generation portable devices, mobile printers, handheld or desktop computers, notebooks, laptops, tablets, wearables, virtual or augmented reality devices, secure voice communication equipment, networking hardware, computer workstations, or any other computing system and/or device.

Further, processors such as processor706receive instructions from memories such as memory708or database722and execute the instructions to provide the operations herein, thereby performing one or more processes, including one or more of the processes described herein. Such instructions and other information may be stored and transmitted using a variety of computer-readable mediums (e.g., memory708or database722). Processors such as processor106may include any computer hardware or combination of computer hardware that is configured to accomplish the purpose of the devices, systems, operations, and processes described herein. For example, the processor106may be any one of, but not limited to single, dual, triple, or quad core processors (on one single chip), graphics processing units, and visual processing hardware.

Further, databases, data repositories or other information stores (e.g., memory708and database722) described herein may generally include various kinds of mechanisms for storing, providing, accessing, and retrieving various kinds of information, including a hierarchical database, a set of files in a file system, an application database in a proprietary format, a relational database management system (RDBMS), etc. Each such information may generally be included within to a computing system and/or device employing a computer operating system such as one of those mentioned above, and/or accessed via a network or connection in any one or more of a variety of manners. A file system may be accessible from a computer operating system, and may include files stored in various formats. An RDBMS generally employs the Structured Query Language (SQL) in addition to a language for creating, storing, editing, and executing stored procedures, such as the PL/SQL language mentioned above.

FIG. 8is a schematic of the disclosed setup in a LIDAR/3D scanner. By replacing the MCP/phosphor screen imaging device in the described system above with a single-photon imaging device such as an image intensifier800, the system and the method can be used to capture the 3D information of photons802in a similar fashion, with photon emissions802,822corresponding such that804is an emission of a photon instead of that of electrons corresponding to emissions104above. In combination with a pulsed laser102, the system will provide highly accurate 3D positions of objects (location and distance) at 1 million pixel per seconds. This is a superior implementation of Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) and 3D scanner.

FIG. 9is a schematic of the disclosed setup in a non-line-of-sight imaging arrangement. Using the system described above and with a reconstruction algorithm, objects beyond line-of-sight can be detected and imaged. In this arrangement object106is positioned behind an obstacle900and photons902are scattered to object106from an obstruction904. Scatter photons are generated from the object to image intensifier800and 3D positions are similarly obtained.

FIG. 10is a schematic of the disclosed setup in a medical imaging arrangement combining LIDAR and non-line-of-site imaging. Applying the system described above and as a 3D endoscope, 3D images of internal cavities1000either in line-of-sight, or beyond line-of-sight can be constructed for purpose of medical diagnosis.

Thus, according to the disclosure, a system includes a source configured to emit a pulse of emissions to an object, to generate a particle in the object, and an imaging detector positioned to receive the particle, and configured to produce a light flash as an event that is indicative of an X and Y hit position of the particle in the imaging detector, and configured to output a waveform arising from the particle. An event-driven camera is directed toward the imaging detector and capable of providing an imaging detector signal that includes, when the event occurs: intensity and time-over-threshold (TOT) signals related to the light flash, time-of-arrival (TOA) information of the event, and the X and Y hit position of the particle based on a location of the light flash. A photodiode is positioned to detect signals indicative of a time origin of the pulse from the source. A timing circuit is coupled to the imaging detector and coupled to the photodiode, and configured to determine a time-of-flight (TOF) of the particle based on the waveform from the imaging detector, and based on the time origin of the pulse from the photodiode. A hardware processor and a memory having a program communicatively connected to the hardware processor, the hardware processor being communicatively connected to the timing circuit and to the event-driven camera, the hardware processor providing operations including generating 3D coordinates (position and time) for the particle based on the X and Y hit position of the particle synchronized with the TOF of the particle.

According to the disclosure, a method includes configuring a source to emit a pulse of emissions to an object, generating a particle in the object and positioning an imaging detector to receive the particle, the imaging detector configured to produce a light flash as an event that is indicative of an X and Y hit position of the particle in the imaging detector, and to output a waveform arising from the particle. The method includes directing an event-driven camera toward the imaging detector and capable of providing an imaging detector signal that includes, when the event occurs: intensity and time-over-threshold (TOT) signals related to the light flash, time-of-arrival (TOA) information of the event, and the X and Y hit position of the particle based on a location of the light flash. The method further includes positioning a photodiode to detect signals indicative of a time origin of the pulse from the source, coupling a timing circuit to the imaging detector and to the photodiode, and configuring the timing circuit to determine a time-of-flight (TOF) of the particle based on the waveform from the imaging detector, and based on the time origin of the pulse from the photodiode, and communicatively connecting a hardware processor and a memory having a program to the hardware processor, and communicatively connecting the hardware processor to the timing circuit and to the event-driven camera, and providing the hardware processor operations including generating 3D coordinates (position and time) for the particle based on the X and Y hit position of the particle synchronized with the TOF of the particle.

According to the disclosure, a method includes generating 3D coordinates for a particle based on an X and Y hit position of the particle synchronized with a time-of-flight (TOF) of the particle, the particle generated from a pulse of emissions directed an object, determining the X and Y hit position from an event-driven camera, and determining the TOF of the particle based on 1) a waveform from an imaging detector that receives the particle, and 2) based on a time origin of the particle, wherein the time origin of the particle is determined in a photodiode that receives the pulse of laser emissions.