Edinburgh-based fabless semiconductor company, Singular Photonics, has just launched its most advanced image sensor to date – the Litavis, a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD). The sensor uses in-pixel processing to unify imaging, timing, histogramming and photon statistics on a single chip. The company claims it is the world’s first such sensor.

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 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.”

Designed to bring 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.