Single photon range imaging for natural gas sensing SPRINGS

Gas sensing is a growing market, with Oil & Gas leak detection alone expected to grow to $3.38B in 2022. One can detect individual gas species by measuring the infrared absorption associated with bond stretching in the gas molecules. The most sensitive methods use laser radar (LIDAR) techniques particularly differential absorption LIDAR (DIAL) where tunable pulsed lasers are used to obtain transmission data on and off-line allowing a calibrated measurement of absorption and thus gas concentration. Existing long range methods have used expensive pulsed solid state lasers and standard avalanche detection methods. Here in SPRINGS we use off-the-shelf communications diode lasers and single photon counting detection to develop a quantum inspired LIDAR capable of detecting the lowest concentration of natural gas leaks required by the industry out to a 200 metres operational distance. This brings a 10-fold sensitivity improvement over our closest competitor on the market and enables a fast scanning and imaging capability. A lightweight and low power, version could by mounted on a drone to delivers up to 30 miles per hour surveying speed for gas leak detection in pipelines and/or landfill sites. To ensure long-term leadership, we also develop a quantum-enhanced prototype, taking us to mid-IR wavelengths, for a further 10-fold performance gain, exploiting quantum interference and parametric frequency conversion. This also open up the possibility for other gas species for Oil & Gas exploration and possibly remote detection of explosives.

The project involves University of Bristol and three SME industrial partners. ID Quantique UK will deliver the single photon LIDAR core technology platform while QLM adds the gas sensing capability and SKY Futures will provide drone integration and validation in industrial settings.

One of the main goals of SPRINGS is to provide high sensitivity gas surveying capabilities to the Oil & Gas industry, both for environmental protection and for exploration. In fact gas sensing is a rapidly growing market, with Oil & Gas leak detection alone expected to grow to $3.38B in 2022.
With the enhanced sensitivity and efficiency of the SPRINGS LIDAR leak detection will be a major part of this service. The target customers are thus the Oil & Gas infrastructure operators. By utilizing the survey services that are able to identify very small leaks, they can repair the problems at an early stage in the development, preventing major failures and explosion risks. In terms of the impact of the UK photonics industry, there are hundreds of small and medium size companies in the UK are manufacturing optical devices, particularly for fibre optical components in the SWIR telecommunication band using III-V materials. In terms of the wider economics implications, we believe a project like the SPRINGS, using quantum inspired system technology that utilises telecommunication wavelength optical components could act as a future flagship of UK photonic sensing industry.

The work in Bristol University could lead to patentable IP in the domain of parametric sensing methods and of course our Industrial partners are the primary beneficiaries of these developments.