Time-encoded single-pixel 3D imaging

With the increasing attention in single pixel imaging and three dimensional (3D) measurement, several effective single-pixel 3D imaging (SPI-3D) systems have been put forward, which are capable of retrieving the 3D form of an object. However, for a dynamic 3D scene that occurs within several microseconds, these SPI-3D systems have encountered multiple speed limitations from active illumination devices and decoding algorithms. Here, a time-encoded single-pixel 3D (TESP-3D) imaging method is proposed, which employs an active one dimensional infrared time-encoded projector and four single-pixel detectors to acquire the 3D information on dynamic targets with a line rate of up to 500 000 Hz. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate 3D line-scanning imaging on fast moving objects with a velocity of 25 m/s. TESP-3D is a promising method for industrial on-line 3D inspection and high throughput 3D screening.