The present technology relates to an observation apparatus, an observation method, and a distance measurement system capable of improving distance measurement accuracy. A first measurement unit that measures a first number of reactions of a light receiving element in response to incidence of photons on a first pixel, a second measurement unit that measures a second number of reactions of the light receiving element in response to incidence of photons on a second pixel, a light emitting unit that emits light to the second pixel, and a light emission control unit that controls the light emitting unit according to a difference between the first number of reactions and the second number of reactions are included. The present technology can be applied to, for example, a distance measurement apparatus that measures a distance to a predetermined object, and can be applied to an observation apparatus that observes a characteristic of a pixel included in the distance measurement apparatus.

The present technology relates to an observation apparatus, an observation method, and a distance measurement system capable of improving distance measurement accuracy. A first measurement unit that measures a first number of reactions of a light receiving element in response to incidence of photons on a first pixel, a second measurement unit that measures a second number of reactions of the light receiving element in response to incidence of photons on a second pixel, a light emitting unit that emits light to the second pixel, and a light emission control unit that controls the light emitting unit according to a difference between the first number of reactions and the second number of reactions are included. The present technology can be applied to, for example, a distance measurement apparatus that measures a distance to a predetermined object, and can be applied to an observation apparatus that observes a characteristic of a pixel included in the distance measurement apparatus.

A sensor chip includes a sensor pixel. The sensor pixel includes an avalanche photodetector. A circuit is adjacent to the avalanche photodetector. The circuit is coupled to the avalanche photodetector. An isolation structure at least partially encloses the circuit and is between the avalanche photodetector and the circuit.

A sensor chip includes a sensor pixel. The sensor pixel includes an avalanche photodetector. A circuit is adjacent to the avalanche photodetector. The circuit is coupled to the avalanche photodetector. An isolation structure at least partially encloses the circuit and is between the avalanche photodetector and the circuit.

A coaxial lidar system includes one or more emitter channels and one or more sensor channels that share an optical module. A diffractive waveguide can be used to redirect received light from the shared optical module to the sensor channels.

A coaxial lidar system includes one or more emitter channels and one or more sensor channels that share an optical module. A diffractive waveguide can be used to redirect received light from the shared optical module to the sensor channels.

An operating method for a LIDAR system that is operable by pulse sequence encoding and designed with a SPAD-based detector element, in which a down time of the SPAD-based detector element is detected, and in the transmission mode of the LiDAR system, a minimum time interval of transmission pulses of primary light to be transmitted in direct chronological succession is dimensioned in such a way that the minimum time interval at least approximately corresponds to the down time.

An operating method for a LIDAR system that is operable by pulse sequence encoding and designed with a SPAD-based detector element, in which a down time of the SPAD-based detector element is detected, and in the transmission mode of the LiDAR system, a minimum time interval of transmission pulses of primary light to be transmitted in direct chronological succession is dimensioned in such a way that the minimum time interval at least approximately corresponds to the down time.

Methods and apparatus for a controlling a stimulus source to direct photons to a pixel in a pixel array contained in a detector system, analyzing a response of the pixel in the pixel array; and generating an alert based on the response of the pixel in the pixel array. Example stimulus sources include a conductive trace, a PN junction, and a current source.

The present invention relates to a multi-channel lidar sensor module capable of measuring at least two target objects using one image sensor. The multi-channel lidar sensor module according to an embodiment of the present invention includes at least one pair of light emitting units configured to emit laser beams and a light receiving unit formed between the at least one pair of emitting units and configured to receive at least one pair of reflected laser beams which are emitted from the at least one pair of light emitting units and reflected by target objects.