A technology review of the digital twin landscape: architectures, applications, maturity, opportunities and risksacross optical design, manufacturing and photonics-enabled systems.

Digital twins are evolving from isolated simulation models into intelligent virtual counterparts capableof monitoring, predicting and optimizing real-world optical systems. But what actually constitutes adigital twin in photonics?

This report maps the landscape from FEM and optical simulations to data-driven models, sensor-connected twins and emerging AI-powered virtual counterparts. It explores applications across opticaldesign, manufacturing, metrology, medical systems, navigation, aerospace and sensing, while assessing their maturity, value potential, limitations and risks.

Looking beyond today’s individual twins, the report explores a potentially transformative next step: AI enabling digital twins to communicate, exchange knowledge and work together. By connecting specialized twins across components, processes and systems, AI could enable higher-order digital twin clusters that represent and optimize increasingly complex real-world systems.

The report gives photonics industry leaders a practical framework for understanding where digital twins create value today, where they can deliver competitive advantage, and how AI-connected twin ecosystems could reshape photonics tomorrow.