Laser-based active detection and imaging is where the space situational awareness heading in the future. The photon-sensitive detector is the core of the photon-counting-based three-dimensional laser imaging system whose working range is much longer and which is capable of realizing both high-precision distance measurement and three-dimensional surface reconstruction at the same time. Therefore, the photon-counting-based three-dimensional laser imaging is especially suitable for realizing ranging and three-dimensional imaging of distant space targets in a deep space background. In this manuscript, the position-sensitive Micro-channel-plate with Cross-delay-line (MCP/CDL) detector-based photon-counting three-dimensional imaging technique is proposed. First of all, the research background of this manuscript is systematically introduced and the contribution of the work reported to the field of photon-counting-based three-dimensional laser imaging is summarized. After that, starting from the characteristics of the MCP/CDL detector itself, the photon-counting three-dimensional laser imaging system by using the position-sensitive MCP/CDL detector is designed and the corresponding operating mode is discussed simply, which gives a reference for real application in future. After that, the principle of the proposed position-sensitive MCP/CDL detector-based photon-counting three-dimensional laser imaging technique is introduced from two aspects. In the one hand, how to use MCP/CDL detector to realize the synchronous timing and positioning of arriving photon is qualitatively explained. On the other hand, with the help of the classical LIDAR equation, the echo power model and the echo photon model generated from the echo power model are given respectively. Based on the two basic models, three important models including the signal to noise ratio model, detection probability model, and ranging accuracy model are derived one by one, based on which the performance of the proposed technique is investigated numerically. After establishing the all-chain imaging model, the potentials of this technique in space-borne space targets monitoring are investigated through end-to-end simulated imaging and performance analysis. By using the Monte Carlo simulation method, the simulated photon-counting three-dimensional laser imaging is carried out with different conditions and in this way, the potential performance of this system in space situational awareness is demonstrated vividly. However, nowadays, most photon-counting detectors including the MCP/CDL detector have a low spatial resolution. In this case, the ranging imaging has a strong mosaic effect which is hard to resolve finer details. Besides that, the ranging accuracy is mainly determined by timing electronics. Considering these two situations, how to improve the spatial and temporal resolution is also discussed. Taking the finer details provided by the higher resolution intensity image as reference, the spatial resolution of ranging images could be improved prominently. At the mean time, a controllable time delay is introduced to realize super-sample in ranging direction and the higher ranging accuracy could be obtained by fusing multiple range images. According to numerical simulations, the potential of this system in realizing super-resolution both in the spatial domain and in the temporal domain is demonstrated. Finally, the prototype camera using MCP/CDL detector is designed, tested and fabricated. By using the prototype camera, two groups of three-dimensional laser imaging experiments are carried out. The results demonstrate that this technique has the capability in resolving small distance variation of being less than 5 mm when the imaging distance is about 6.8 m. Therefore, the position-sensitive micro-channel-plate having cross-delay-line based photon-counting three-dimensional laser imaging is proven to be effective.