Bridging Light and Immersion: Visible Optical Interfaces for Extended Reality

Extended reality (XR), encompassing virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), is rapidly reshaping the landscape of digital interaction and immersive communication. As XR evolves toward ultra-realistic, real-time, and interactive experiences, it places unprecedented demands on wireless communication systems in terms of bandwidth, latency, and reliability. Conventional RF-based networks, constrained by limited spectrum and interference, struggle to meet these stringent requirements. In contrast, visible light communication (VLC) offers a compelling alternative by exploiting the vast unregulated visible spectrum to deliver high-speed, low-latency, and interference-free data transmission—making it particularly suitable for future XR environments. This paper presents a comprehensive survey on VLC-enabled XR communication systems. We first analyze XR technologies and their diverse quality-of-service (QoS) and quality-of-experience (QoE) requirements, identifying the unique challenges posed to existing wireless infrastructures. Building upon this, we explore the fundamentals, characteristics, and opportunities of VLC systems in supporting immersive XR applications. Furthermore, we elaborate on the key enabling techniques that empower VLC to fulfill XR’s stringent demands, including high-speed transmission technologies, hybrid VLC-RF architectures, dynamic beam control, and visible light sensing capabilities. Finally, we discuss future research directions, emphasizing AI-assisted network intelligence, cross-layer optimization, and collaborative multi-element transmission frameworks as vital enablers for the next-generation VLC–XR ecosystem.