Optical sensors and image capture systems have numerous areas of application, usually to measure environmental data and turn them into signals that can be read by observers or other instruments. Examples range from small sensors of temperature, chemical composition, etc … to large systems used for medical examination, lithography, production systems or astronomy.

Within manufacturing, exploration and data detection are crucial for improving the production process, especially in the quality control elements. Examples include imaging systems for manufacturing and robotic systems for detecting production errors. These systems are used in high-tech industries like microelectronics production and increasingly in other areas such as food production.

In the medical sector, exploration and medical imaging are a critical component in making diagnoses of diseased areas. In defense and security, threat identification is just one example of the use of these devices and systems. In the transport sector, many viewing devices are used, for example to improve safety by controlling the speed, traffic surveillance cameras, automatic toll, etc. Also, increasingly they are being incorporated sensors on cars to take environmental data, with the aim of increasing safety and comfort.

In the field of research, in recent decades, these devices have become crucial to make the invisible visible (eg, microscopy and astronomy) and to assess the characteristics of the materials and processes.

Last but not least, the scanning and detection devices are increasingly important in consumer devices such as cameras, mobile phones and home automation.

Source: ¨The leverage effect of Photonics technologies: the European perspective¨ Photonics21 

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