Light pulse generating circuits and systems

A light pulse generating circuit is described for generating light pulses from a diode light source such as an LED or laser diode. The light pulse generating circuit comprises a charge storage device and a trigger circuit for triggering a discharge of the charge storage device across the diode light source to generate a light pulse. The light pulse generating circuit comprises a differentiator circuit for differentiating an input signal to produce a differentiated signal, which is provided as an input to the trigger circuit. A first diode is arranged relative to the differentiator circuit in order to substantially prevent the propagation of one of a positive pulse and a negative pulse generated by differentiating the input signal so that a light pulse having a single peak is generated. Also described are methods of using the same, and systems comprising a plurality of light pulse generating circuits arranged in sequence.