Global Adaptive Optics Market, By End User (Consumer, Astronomy, Biomedical, Military & Defense, Industrial & Manufacturing, Communication, and Others End-Users), By Application (Ophthalmology, Laser Application, Microscopy, and Others Applications), By Component (Wavefront Sensor, Wavefront Modulator, Control System, and Other Components) By Region and Companies - Industry Segment Outlook, Market Assessment, Competition Scenario, Trends, and Forecast 2023-2032

Report Overview

In 2022, the Global Adaptive Optics market was valued at US$ 484 million and expected to grow US$ 4296 million in 2032. Between 2023 and 2032, this market is estimated to register a CAGR of 25.1%.

A field of optics and photonics called adaptive optics (AO) integrates optical systems for beam propagation, telecommunication, and microscopy. By reducing the impact of incoming wavefront distortion and deforming a mirror to account for the distortion, the technology improves the functionality of the visual ecology. Also, by eliminating the errors that arise from distortions in light waves during measurement and imaging, adaptive optics enhance the efficiency of optical devices. Moreover, it has uses in biological research, laser communication, and retinal imaging. The wavefront sensor, control system, and wavefront modulator are the system’s three primary parts.

Adoption in the astronomy sector, rising retinal degeneration disease prevalence, and increased demand for high-resolution microscopy in various biomedical research projects contribute to the market expansion of these adaptive optics. However, the market for adaptive optics is predicted to experience growing challenges due to the high initial cost of adaptive systems and the difficult design and optimization of space optical solutions.

Market Scope

Application Analysis

Widespread usage of adaptive optics helps microscopy overcome these difficulties. The resolution, signal intensity, and contrast ratio can all be improved using AO. These AO benefits are helpful for in vivo deep tissue imaging. Furthermore, adaptive optics assist in resolving the problem that arises when utilizing high-power microscopes to study a large sample. With its quick scanning microscope stage, adaptive optics may create a mosaic image of a big sample. Moreover, it aids in correcting aberrations brought on by optical flaws. Thus, it is anticipated that the market expansion will be fueled by the effectiveness of AO in medical microscopy and the affordability of these tools compared to a high-powered, wide field-of-view scanning microscope.

Throughout the projected period, the ophthalmology segment is anticipated to develop at the fastest rate. Using non-invasive adaptive optics, eye illnesses can be identified, and treated. The segment is anticipated to increase due to the increasing use of adaptive optics for retinal imaging. Due to the eye’s monochromatic aberrations, which result from flaws in the optics of the eye, conventional optical imaging instruments have difficulty diagnosing retinal disorders. To quantify and correct these aberrations and produce a little amount of diffracted light, adaptive optics is used. As a result of AO’s effectiveness, it is available in several forms in the area of ophthalmology, including AO-OCT and AO-fundus cameras, which are predicted to drive the segment’s expansion.

End Users Analysis

Market segments include Military & Defense, Industrial & Manufacturing, Biomedical, Astronomy, Communication, and Others based on end-user industries. Military and defense maintained the greatest market share among the various end-user industries, followed by the biomedical sector. Modern defense weapons and highly complex guiding systems are developed in the military and defense industry using adaptive optics. They are additionally employed as a technique to raise the potency of direct energy weapons. Also, there is a rising need in the military sector to identify ways to integrate adaptive optics into horizontal path surveillance systems.

Component Analysis

Wavefront sensors, deformable mirrors, and control systems are the three categories into which the worldwide adaptive optics market is divided by component. One of the main elements propelling the rise of this segment’s revenue is the availability of direct measurements of optical wavefront phase and intensity. Shack-Hartman Wavefront Sensors (SHWFS), which combine a 2D detector with a lens, let array to measure the distortion of aberrated wavefront emanating from the eye, are one of the most popular forms of wavefront sensors.

This segment’s rise is also being fueled by a rise in the use of advanced optics in optical metrology and laser diagnostics. When paired with the inherent characteristics of devices, such as speed, vibration, and achromaticity, nanometric accuracy with thousands of waves of dynamic range and a linearity of around 99.9% enables different applications in research and industry.

Key Market Segments

By Component

• Wavefront Sensor
• Wavefront Modulator
• Control System
• Others Component

By End Users

• Consumer
• Astronomy
• Biomedical
• Military & Defense
• Industrial & Manufacturing
• Communication
• Others End Users

By Application

• Ophthalmology
• Laser Application
• Microscopy
• Others Application

Drivers

• Increasing Investment in the R&D Field for Integrating Adaptive Optics Is Expected to Boost the Market

Demand for adaptive optics has increased as a result of its use in recent years in fields of medicine like ophthalmology and retinal imaging to lessen optical distortions. With the rising demand for adaptive optics, various businesses, including Iris AO Inc., provide their AO systems made specifically for ophthalmology and retinal imaging. For instance, the U.S. National Institutes of Health use Iris AO DMs for retinal imaging. Due to the numerous applications that AO finds in a variety of fields, businesses have been investing heavily in R&D to create better and more inventive goods.

• Increased Government Funding Accelerates the Growth of the Global Adaptive Optics Market

Several sectors, involving high-end industrial microscopes and other spectroscopy methods, have found uses for adaptive optics systems. Researchers from the U.S. National Eye Institute used vivo fluorescence ophthalmoscopy and adaptive optics to record mosaic patterns made by the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in people (AO). Because of this, there is a greater need for AO-powered imaging ecosystems that would improve research insights. The market has expanded as a result of this.

Restraints

Complex designing techniques with lengthy procedures and the high initial cost of adaptive optics devices are expected to provide some restraints to the growth of the market

Opportunity

• As AO systems are increasingly used in military and defense industrial applications such as satellite imaging, free-space optical communication, and laser weaponry, among others, the market is booming.
• primary emphasis on in-house development and product launches as organic market expansion tactics.
• Study of the market for adaptive optics’ development prospects in various applications and geographies

COVID-19 Impact Analysis

Uncertainty is being caused by the COVID-19 situation in the market. International trade and transportation have been hampered since the start of 2020 as a rising number of nations have closed their borders and restricted travel to curb the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic. Several regional governments have issued total lockdowns and temporary industry shutdowns, which has a negative impact on overall production and sales. Also, the COVID-19 epidemic had an important negative effect on the global market for adaptive optics. Also, due to restrictions on all industrial operations and international trade activity, the COVID-19 outbreak had a substantial negative effect on the global adaptive optics business.

For a range of end-use industries, including those in the commercial, industrial, defense, medical, aviation, automotive, space, and other sectors, many businesses are actively creating and developing complex optical systems. In order to provide patients with the best care possible, the medical (healthcare) industry observed a rise in the requirement for cutting-edge optical medical technologies in 2020–2021. However, COVID-19 only had a little impact on the market due to the disruption in supply chain studies. The sudden stoppage of these small businesses’ revenue generation brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak has had an important effect. This factor led to a minimal expenditure on research and development activities.

Trends

Exoplanet discoveries over the past twenty years have raised the importance of exoplanet research in the scientific community. Due to their proximity to the star in the center and their high contrast ratio, direct imaging of these neighboring exoplanets and the environment in which they emerge and evolve is difficult. Ground-based telescopes must be outfitted with adaptive optics devices designed to obtain high-contrast images to meet these obstacles.

The European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) project was started to construct the greatest telescope for cosmological research. The project will heavily rely on adaptive optics technologies to acquire images that are 13 times lighter than those that can be obtained today. With additional projects to come, the astronomy sector’s demand for adaptive optics systems is Predicated to rise dramatically.

Regional Analysis

The major portion of the global market is located in North America. Recognizing the broad range of applications for adaptive optics across numerous industries has led to market domination. Adaptive optics has become more popular in the area as a result of the astronomical and medicinal fields’ growing demands for better technology. North American nations like the US and Canada are gaining the largest market share as a result of the region’s ongoing advancements in optics and related technologies. These nations are thought to have been the early adopters of adaptive optics technologies in North America and elsewhere. Also, the American healthcare industry is expanding rapidly, and optical applications in healthcare have increased.

The requirement for efficient optical solutions to support the various industrial verticals functioning in this sector was also acknowledged by policymakers and state and federal governments in these nations, which may account for the market dominance globally.

Key Regions & Countries Covered in the World

• North America
  • The US
  • Canada
  • Mexico
• Western Europe
  • Germany
  • France
  • The UK
  • Spain
  • Italy
  • Portugal
  • Ireland
  • Austria
  • Switzerland
  • Benelux
  • Nordic
  • Rest of Western Europe
• Eastern Europe
  • Russia
  • Poland
  • The Czech Republic
  • Greece
  • Rest of Eastern Europe
• APAC
  • China
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • India
  • Australia & New Zealand
  • Indonesia
  • Malaysia
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • Thailand
  • Vietnam
  • Rest of APAC
• Latin America
  • Brazil
  • Colombia
  • Chile
  • Argentina
  • Costa Rica
  • Rest of Latin America
• Middle East & Africa
  • Algeria
  • Egypt
  • Israel
  • Kuwait
  • Nigeria
  • Saudi Arabia
  • South Africa
  • Turkey
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Rest of MEA

Market Share and Key Players Analysis

The industry’s rapid acceptance of minimally invasive procedures, the expansion of clinical trials, and the rising incidence of retinal illnesses, and are the main factors influencing the market growth in terms of revenue. Sharper images with finer details can be obtained by using deformable mirrors that are controlled by computers to instantly correct distortion due to Earth’s atmosphere’s turbulence. Moreover, adaptive optics enable the eradication of errors, enhancing optical equipment’s performance and spurring market expansion. Demand for defense adaptive optics is developing as a result of the quick acceptance of these technologies in satellite imaging and other advanced imaging systems, as well as the growing use of laser weaponry in combat.

Recent Developments

• The first image that employed adaptive optics to correct for the blurring caused by the earth’s atmosphere was produced in January 2020 by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) newest AO-based telescope, the Inouye Solar 4-meter Telescope.
• By modifying a plenoptic imaging approach, which is powered by adaptive optics systems, the Imaging Optics company, in partnership with the EU-funded VOXEL project, developed a novel way to provide 3D imaging without significant doses of X-ray in July 2019.

Market Key Players

• Teledyn e2v Ltd
• Northrop Grumman Corporation
• Thorlabs, Inc.
• Iris AO, Inc.
• l. (Italy)
• Active Optical B.V.
• Flexible Optical SA
• Boston Micromachines Corporation
• Phasics Corp.
• Benchmark Electronics, Inc.
• Edmund Optics Inc.
• Aplegen Inc.
• Holoeye Photonics AG
• Sacher LastechnikGmbh
• Other Key Players

Report Scope