Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 23 minutes ago
In collaboration with the University of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences (@uaosc), we explore how your phone’s face detection works in the dark and how light is used for depth sensing.
Consumer technologies like smartphones, augmented reality, 3D scanners, and autonomous vehicles can implement depth sensing technologies to map their environment in 3D. One such technique used by some smartphones is structured light. Structured light projects a known pattern of light onto a scene and uses cameras to see how the pattern changes. These changes are measured and used to calculate the distance to objects and 3D map the scene.
In the case of smart phones, structured light is used for biometric security. Rather than taking a photo of your face, thousands of invisible laser dots are projected and create a 3D scan of your face, making it far more difficult to trick.
While handheld 3D scanners often use visible light so the area being scanned is more visible, many consumer products using structured light may use infrared light. Infrared light is not visible to the human eye, making it an effective way to hide in plan sight and function in the dark.
A special thanks to Hillary Mathis, Wyant College of Optical Sciences, and the University of Arizona for hosting Thorlabs and sharing their outreach demos. https://wp.optics.arizona.edu/oscoutreach/demos/all-demos/
In collaboration with the University of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences (@uaosc), we explore how your phone’s face detection works in the dark and how light is used for depth sensing.
Consumer technologies like smartphones, augmented reality, 3D scanners, and autonomous vehicles can implement depth sensing technologies to map their environment in 3D. One such technique used by some smartphones is structured light. Structured light projects a known pattern of light onto a scene and uses cameras to see how the pattern changes. These changes are measured and used to calculate the distance to objects and 3D map the scene.
In the case of smart phones, structured light is used for biometric security. Rather than taking a photo of your face, thousands of invisible laser dots are projected and create a 3D scan of your face, making it far more difficult to trick.
While handheld 3D scanners often use visible light so the area being scanned is more visible, many consumer products using structured light may use infrared light. Infrared light is not visible to the human eye, making it an effective way to hide in plan sight and function in the dark.
A special thanks to Hillary Mathis, Wyant College of Optical Sciences, and the University of Arizona for hosting Thorlabs and sharing their outreach demos. https://wp.optics.arizona.edu/oscoutreach/demos/all-demos/
