Snapshot 3D at the speed frontier: redefining light-field microscopy for neuroimaging

Abstract Neural activity unfolds across three-dimensional circuits on millisecond-to-microsecond timescales, yet most optical microscopes still acquire volumes sequentially, limiting their ability to capture fast, distributed dynamics. Light-field microscopy (LFM) addresses this unmet need by encoding spatial and angular information into a single camera exposure, enabling snapshot volumetric imaging with low latency and strong robustness to motion. Here we review emerging advances in light-field neuroimaging, from brain-wide calcium recordings in freely moving animals to recent progress that brings kilohertz-class volumetric voltage imaging within reach. We argue that LFM should be evaluated based on information throughput, latency, photon efficiency, and motion robustness at the speed frontier, but not as a direct resolution or contrast competitor to confocal, multiphoton, or light-sheet microscopy. We conclude by highlighting future directions that preserve the LFM’s snapshot advantage, including speed-preserving improvements in image quality, extreme temporal-bandwidth architectures that prioritize quantitative inference over visual appearance, and multimodal light-field sensing that adds spectral, lifetime, and polarization contrast.