opticalvideo

Opticalvideo is a term used to describe the convergence of optical technologies with video systems, encompassing the capture, processing, transmission, and display of moving images using photonic methods. The phrase is not widely standardized and may be used in different ways in industry and academia; it most often appears in discussions of advanced imaging pipelines where optics play a central role beyond conventional electronic processing.

Components and subfields: Optical capture refers to camera systems that use traditional image sensors (CMOS/CCD) augmented by optical elements, such as adaptive optics, lens arrays, beam splitters, or diffractive optics to shape the image before conversion to electronic signals. Optical processing encompasses in-sensor or in-optics operations, such as Fourier-domain filtering, holographic data processing, or spatial light modulation that reduces the need for electronic computations. Optical transmission covers the use of fiber-optic networks and photonic interconnects to move video data with low latency and high bandwidth. Optical displays and visualization include holographic, light-field, and waveguide-based displays enabling optical-path rendering. Emerging areas include optical computing tailored to video tasks and light-field capture for plenoptic video.

Applications are broad and include broadcast and telecommunications, professional cinema, surveillance, medical imaging, scientific visualization, and developments in augmented reality and virtual reality, as well as machine-vision systems. The term often appears in research and industry contexts rather than as a formal academic discipline.

Etymology and status: The term is informal and descriptive rather than a standardized field, overlapping with imaging science, optoelectronics, photonics, and video engineering. See also imaging sensor, fiber-optic communication, holography, light-field photography, and optoelectronics.