About IAPD Division
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Image Acquisition, Processing, Display and Perception Division
Overview
This division is a community of information scientists interested in applications of photonics in digital systems, system engineers interested in interfaces between analog and digital systems, and physical scientists interested in the representation of data in physical form. The division encompasses developing and using numerous techniques to acquire and process data. It uses as a basis for data acquisition many of the tools and devices developed by the Photonics and Opto-Electronics division, such as LIDAR, and other various sensors, and modifies these devices as required to perform a specific data acquisition task. As an example, LIDAR or its components developed by the Photonics and Opto-Electronics division will be modified for field application to measure, in this example, the atmosphere, pollution, or aerosol distributions. This Division uses numerous sensor types from FPA imagers, fiber acoustic, magnetic, temperature etc. sensors, light-based probes, etc. It is involved in developing data acquisition hardware, processing systems, and data visualization and display techniques. Topics within the division include:
- Fundamental information science, such as information theory and coding for photonic systems and computational complexity and algorithms for sensing, processing, and communications,
- Analog/Digital interfaces, including analog and digital processing in sensors and transceivers and digital to analog interfaces for multimedia and sentient environments,
- Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) display technologies for human vision.
- Digital analysis of optical data, including pattern recognition, target identification and tracking, and biometric analysis,
- Physical information processing, including field transformations in thin and volume holograms, photonic crystals, and spectral holograms for applications in information display, sensing, and storage and nonlinear transformations for information processing and switching.
- Physical limits of information, including optics in quantum, molecular and mesoscopic computing systems.
- Adaptive optics (AO), including methods and systems for multiple application purposes, among which free-space optical communications, space situational awareness, ophthalmology, vision science, microscopy, astronomy, high energy beam control, and beam propagation and control.
Technical Groups
Holography and Diffractive Optics
This group focuses on the design and implementation of holographic and diffractive-optic devices and systems for scientific, commercial, and other applications. The development of new approaches and materials needed to construct both analog and digital holograms are studied. The scope of this technical group covers holography technology, holographic materials, digital holographic imaging, holographic microscope, computer-generated holograms, diffractive optical elements, holographic nano-fabrication methods, diffractive-optic micro-manipulation, spatial light modulators for phase modulation, 3D display using spatial light modulators, holographic measurements of 3D structures, phase unwrapping, and other related topics.
Image Sensing and Pattern Recognition
This group is concerned with analog and digital processing in sensing and imaging systems, algorithms for sensor system control and for data analysis, sensor networks and data fusion, pattern recognition and tracking. Examples include computational image formation (e.g. computed tomography, image interferometry), image compression, image enhancement, image evaluation, image quality, image reconstruction, inverse problems, pattern recognition, phase retrieval, properties of image transforms, signal recovery, signal synthesis, and superresolution. Emerging areas within this group include integrated computational imaging systems, sparse aperture sensor arrays, biometric sensors for information and physical security, real-time pattern recognition systems and novel diffuse and projective tomographies.
Intelligent Interfaces and Displays Technology
This group explores a broad range of display technologies, including hardware components, rendering software, data generation, and the use of artificial intelligence in relevant areas. Core hardware-related areas of interest include advanced display technologies such as liquid crystal, OLED, microLED, diffractive and holographic optical components, MEMS, and emerging display architectures, including large-scale, transparent, AR/VR, projection, and holographic displays. The group also focuses on software-oriented themes, including 3D data generation, lightfield rendering, and 3D representation technologies. Additionally, it investigates human visual perception, artificial intelligence–based methods for display and capture, AR/VR environments, and energy-efficient display technologies. Finally, the group addresses interactivity through the integration of sensor technologies, opto-electronic interfaces, and interactive control algorithms that enable immersive and responsive environments. Collectively, the group emphasizes the synergy between hardware, software, and perceptual understanding to advance next-generation visual experiences.
Optics in Digital Systems
This group focuses on utilizing optical and optoelectronic devices and systems for digital data storage, processing, interconnection, and networking. The group focuses on the physical representation of information and the coding and communication protocols for effectively utilizing photonic systems. Emerging areas within this group include optical interconnections and optical clock distribution for high-performance computing, nanomaterials and microresonators for spatio-spectral data storage, and coding schemes for all-optical communications.
