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by Animats 2775 days ago
Nice. Not really here yet, but the semiconductor physics sounds promising. The device they're actually selling is yet another spinning scanner, not a true flash unit.
2 comments

It's often easier to make a small chip and spin it around on a rotating platform than to make a big chip. For a similar reason, rotating line cameras are a thing for panoramic imaging [1]. As the technology matures and become cheaper, we will see more solid state technology, just as bundles of regular area scan cameras with fisheye lenses have displaced rotating line cameras.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_line_camera

What are your thoughts on Geiger LIDAR, ie Princeton Lightwave (which was acquired by Ford/Argo)?
SPADs (single photon avalanche photodiodes) are APD's operated in Geiger mode...
Princeton lightwave is also reportedly doing scanning flash even with 1550nm GmAPDs. Note that spads in InGaAs have much higher dark count rates (i think due to poorer crystal growth technology?)