Optics, sensors and AI: synergic computational imaging

In this talk, I will discuss about several projects in my lab at the confluence of optics, sensors and artificial intelligence. In particular, I will provide examples of how co-designing sensors, optics and AI algorithms results in superior performance capabilities for imaging systems. I will provide three example projects: (1) how on-chip computation can allow us to realize high-resolution flash LIDARs, (2) how novel diffractive and meta-optical elements allow us to realize imaging systems with novel functionalities and form-factors and finally (3) how emerging neural representations along with high resolution spatial light modulators can allow us to image through thick scattering media without the need for guidestars. I will use these projects to argue that we should look at the three computational blocks within an imaging system, optics, sensors and algorithms together and that co-designing them can result in significant performance improvements over the state of art.