Singular Photonics launches world-first SPAD-based image sensor

Litavis offers programmable multi-modal capabilities on-chip, accelerating time-to-market for imaging applications

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Sept. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Singular Photonics, an innovator in single-photon imaging, today announced the launch of its most advanced image sensor to date. Litavis is the world's first single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) sensor using in-pixel processing to unify imaging, timing, histogramming and photon statistics on a single chip.

Designed to bring unprecedented flexibility and intelligence to imaging applications, Litavis introduces a software-configurable sensing architecture capable of combining photon-counting imaging, programmable time gating, and advanced photon timing within a scalable SPAD array platform.

Litavis is also the first SPAD-based sensor to enable simultaneous intensity, timing and histogramming modes. The system also enables users to dynamically adapt sensor parameters in software without requiring new hardware designs.

By processing photon events directly on-chip, Litavis significantly reduces the amount of raw data that must be transferred and processed externally. This enables more scalable real-time imaging systems through lower latency, improved power efficiency and faster decision-making.

Litavis supports a broad suite of configurable operating modes, including:

• Multiple TCSPC and high throughput TDC configurations using internal or external clocks
• High-dynamic-range photon counting modes with selectable resolution
• Windowed and coincidence-based detection for advanced temporal analysis
• Combined timestamping and imaging modes

Developers can reconfigure the same hardware platform for different applications with minimal redesign effort, accelerating development cycles and reducing system complexity. The sensor is suitable for a broad range of applications including machine vision, robotics, physical AI, depth sensing, spectroscopy, scientific imaging, medical imaging, quantum technologies and industrial automation.

"Litavis combines the sensitivity advantages of SPAD technology with the adaptability and scalability increasingly required by modern multimodal imaging," said Shahida Imani, CEO of Singular Photonics. "It condenses these into one intelligent sensor, enabling a new generation of imaging systems built on a single, configurable platform. We designed Litavis to serve multiple applications and markets, and we've already received significant pre-order volumes from companies and institutions around the world."

As with Singular's other products, Litavis is named after an ancient Celtic deity, an earth goddess, whose name means "the broad one" – reflecting the extensive capabilities of the new sensor.

Litavis will be demonstrated at SPIE Sensors + Imaging in Edinburgh next week, and at VISION, the world's largest machine vision tradeshow in Stuttgart in October.

Technical details

Litavis is a CMOS SPAD-based imaging sensor platform built on an architecture that combines single-photon sensitivity with integrated digital photon processing directly on-chip and in-pixel. This enables precise capture of spatial and temporal information, while reducing reliance on external processing hardware, allowing the sensor to extract additional scene information including depth, timing and event characteristics.

Litavis delivers continuous 256 × 256-pixel photon-counting imaging under low-light conditions. In parallel, time-stamped photon events are generated at a lower rate on a 64 × 64 macropixel grid, providing picosecond-resolution photon timing alongside full-resolution photon counting.

The sensor also supports multi-event timing, allowing multiple detected photons per excitation cycle to be individually time-binned, and in-pixel histogramming. These capabilities provide access to temporal statistics beyond conventional intensity measurements. This supports applications such as fluorescence lifetime imaging, dynamic light scattering, and quantum sensing.

Litavis integrates configurable acquisition and timing capabilities directly within the pixel array. This allows developers and system integrators to rapidly prototype, evaluate and deploy advanced imaging solutions using a single adaptable platform.

About Singular Photonics

Singular Photonics is an Edinburgh-based fabless semiconductor company developing SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) image sensors with on-chip computation, enabling breakthrough capabilities in machine vision, industrial automation, physical AI, scientific discovery and medical imaging. Spun out of the University of Edinburgh from the lab of digital imaging pioneer Professor Robert Henderson, the company's Andarta and Sirona product families are already commercially available and generating revenue. www.singularphotonics.com